White roses
by Amandapanda7
Summary: Follow my very own character, Carmen, and Carl through their adventures to find the rest of Rick's group! THIS IS BASED OFF OF THE COMMERICALS AFTER THE MID-SEASON FINALE. PLEASE READ, REVIEW, AND ENJOY!
1. Into the Deep End

**I don't own the walking dead and this story is pretty much based off of the commercials after the mid-season finale!**

You know that queasy feeling you get when your little and your just standing knee deep into the water, staring at the far side of the pool? When you feel as if you would drown if you ever crossed the invisible line you formed separating sanity from insanity? That's what I feel like right now. If I took one step out of my room. I would cross that line to insanity. All it took was one final step to the end, one step that could change my world. It was my choice now. I wouldn't have dared take a single step outside my door since the apocalypse. Since my parents died and I had to fend for myself. Its been two or three years that I've survived. But that didn't matter. I could die right now. I heard footsteps enter my house. I made sure to clear my house of biters every hour just to keep it clean, then I would grab very little food, and lock myself back in my room. That's what I called them, biters. Zombies sounded to cliché to me. The footsteps grew louder, the difference was, they were faster than biter feet. So I figured they belonged to other survivors. Of course, I was completely scared they would kill me for the house if they found me. But the footsteps make a turn into the living room. I heard water run and the sound of two male voices. One sounded to be around my age, fourteen, and the other sounded older. Must be father and son or something like that. I decided to stay in my room for about an hour or so. I fell asleep sitting on the floor of my bedroom and leaning against the door with my gun in hand.

"Wake up! WAKE UP!" I heard the younger voice scream. I abruptly snapped awake and unhooked the safety button on the gun. I slowly opened the door and walked out with the gun raised up. Sun was barely leaking through the house. I opened the door to the living room. I heard the boy gasp as he looked up from shaking and screaming at a man "sleeping" on the couch. Surprisingly, he raised his gun at me at the same time I raised mine to him.

"W-who are you?" I stuttered out trying to stay strong and push the fear out.

"You first." He said in a firm voice despite the stained tears on his freckled cheeks.

"Your on my property. _You_ first." I said just as firmly. He swallowed.

"Carl." He replied not lowering his gun even an inch. I was surprised he hadn't pulled the trigger yet.

"I'm Carmen. Why are you here?" I asked being the bigger...woman, and put my gun on the floor. He seemed a little surprised at the question.

"My dad...he's not waking up." He said, looking as if he just remembered his unconscious dad on the couch. He hesitantly put his gun on the floor and turned back toward the man. Then I understood. They weren't here to kill me, one of them was hurt and just happened to be looking for the nearest place to rest. I must of looked like a witch. My brown hair almost black ringlets had become too knotted up and turned into a bush of hair, my eyes were most likely as red as blood from crying everyday, and my skin was dry from lack of moisture. I had light brown skin, that exposed my ethnicity easily. I was half African-American, half Mexican. Not much to it. But that didn't matter. If I could form some kind of bond with these guys then maybe I would live a little longer. And anyways what was so bad about trying to help a kid my age save his dad? I walked over. As I did, he gave me a puzzled look. I could practically read the mixed up emotions in his eyes. He trusted me, but he didn't want to. He looked me in the eyes cautiously. So I stared right back at his with my green eyes, hoping he realize that I meant no harm. He seemed to understand and slightly nodded. He stepped aside allowing me to check his dad's pulse.

"He's breathing. I think he went into shock though. Might be out for a few days." I said. He nodded not saying anything.

"Its going to be okay, I promise." I said smiling then walked into my kitchen and pulled out a box of stale cookies from the pantry. The pantry was huge, and empty. Just last year a small group of survivors threatened to kill me if I didn't let them pretty much raid the pantry for food. At the time I had just walked out of my room for a brief second, unarmed, when they threatened me. All that was left was this box of cookies. I walked back into the living room to find Carl looking at all of the photos of my family. I tried my best to avoid the pictures of my dead family, not wanting to think about it. All I knew was that my parents went to the super market to get us more food at the beginning of the apocalypse, but never came back. Carl turned around.

"Sorry." He said, expressionless.

"Its fine. Cookie?" I asked. He shook his head.

"I figured. Who would want stale cookies right? But I've been sort of living off of them." I said setting them down on the coffee table and I sat down in a chair next to the couch. He eyed me suspiciously then looked at the box, and walked over. He sat on the coffee table. Mom would have kicked him out of the house for sitting there. I looked over at his dad and immediately noticed a billion cuts and scratches on his face and his arms. I gasped. Carl gave me a puzzled look.

"What happened to your dad?" I asked Carl looking him straight in the eyes. He looked a little uncomfortable at first but then he answered.

"This-uh-guy got in a fist fight with him." He said.

"Your not telling me the whole truth are you?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" He asked defensively.

"No one just randomly attacks a man and gets into a fist fight with them. Carl, seriously, what happened?" I asked. He looked away then stared at the ground.

"A group...they attacked the place where we last lived...a prison. Then things got really bad from there. My dad was getting beat up by the leader, but I think someone killed him. Dad was so weak...then we looked for my baby sister, Judith, just to find her car seat empty on the ground with...blood on it," He paused, holding back tears, then he continued, "One of our people, who was a doctor, was killed. And we all got separated. We just found this place and cleared it out. Then he just collapsed here." He said. I knew my jaw was hanging open, but that was a lot to go through. I know I would have gone crazy by then. Which I did. Sometimes I would find myself in the middle of a conversation with my dead mother. It was beyond insanity. After a moment of silence I finally spoke up.

"Carl, you're so strong. You have to know that. Okay?" I said. Trying my best to crack a smile that was too hard to force onto my lips. He looked down at the ground, tears falling down his cheeks and soaking into the ground. I couldn't take it anymore. I stood up and hugged him for...a little longer than I had intended. I let go feeling a little awkward. I had never hugged a boy, much less a stranger. He looked up and dried his tears with his arm. He seemed to actually study me for the first time, as if seeing what I looked like. At this point I didn't know what to do. I grabbed a few towels and soaked them with cold water.

"Hold these on his cuts. I'll be back." I said.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"To find your group." I said smiling. I grabbed my gun quickly and was about ready to leave, when he stopped me. He tapped me lightly on the shoulder.

"Its gonna get dark. I don't think you should go." He said.

"Was that a complaint?" I said surprised.

"Yeah, it was. I'm not going to let a girl that just helped me and my dad, let us stay in her house, and tried to comfort me, go looking aimlessly for people you don't know." He said.

"Oh so, you think I'm not strong enough as a girl to go by myself and do you a favor."

"It won't be easy." He said. I rolled my eyes.

"Fine. But if you even think about leaving too. Then you have someone whose going to stop you. Remember that." I said. He shrugged and walked back into the living room. I sat back down in the chair and closed my eyes trying but failing to go to sleep. I knew Carl was awake keeping an eye on things. He was so alert and cautious, it scared me thinking about how much sleep he was losing. I opened my eyes again. I sighed frustrated that I couldn't sleep.

"Anything?" I asked him. As I looked at his dad. He shook his head no.

"Can I use your bathroom?" He asked.

"Oh yeah sure. Down the hall on the left." I said watching him leave. After a about two minutes I felt a little uneasy. Something felt wrong. I pulled a blanket over his dad then unhooked the safety button on my gun again and walked down the hall to the bathroom. The door was closed. I heard a thump against the door, then a gasp, then,

"Carmen. Carmen!" I kicked the door open to find myself face to face with a biter. I shot it in the head then moved inside the bathroom to see Carl desperately trying to keep the biter away as he wrestled it in the tub. I had to act quick, problem was he was moving around to much for me to get a good shot.

"Carl! I need you to let go really quick okay?" I said. He didn't respond but did as asked. He fell into the tub hitting his head. He cried out in agony but kicked the biter off with his boots, sending it spinning toward me. I squinted one eye and shot it in the head. At first there were no noises except for me and Carl's heavy breathing. That's when I heard a ton of growling surrounding the non-soundproof walls. I felt like it was in my head but Carl exchanged expressions with me. We looked at each other. My eyes widened and I hissed,

"Crap. We're surrounded." I lowered the gun and started hyperventilating, unable to control my breathing as it grew faster and faster. I felt myself slip away from consciousness. Then I started muttering things like, we're gonna die...we're gonna die...mom? what now? Oh,God, we're gonna die. I looked up still breathing in quick short breaths and murmuring to myself. Carl got out of the tub and put his hands on my shoulders trying to keep me from going insane. I could see his lips moving but I couldn't hear him. All I could hear were the biters starting to break the glass windows in the kitchen. I felt two arms wrap around me trying to calm me down and hugging me. It was Carl, but his face started transforming in my head and it became disoriented and the only noise I could hear were the growls coming from him and from outside. How was he all of a sudden biter? That was it. I was sent over the edge. I was plunging straight into the deep end. I couldn't take it anymore. I was driven mad. I covered my ears with my hands, squeezed my eyes shut and screamed.


	2. NEWS

**HEY EVERYONE SO IF YOU EVER HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT ANYTHING I WRITE PLEASE REVIEW AND ASK! THANKS! HOPE YOU ENJOY! OH AND NEWS- IS ACTUALLY NORTH, EAST, WEST, SOUTH. ;D**

I stopped screaming. I kept my eyes shut and my hands over my ears. I felt two hands shake my shoulders wildly trying to get me to open my eyes. I finally gave in to see Carl gaping at me concerned. I took in shallow breaths and stared into his eyes. I sat up and hugged him. I had no idea what had just happened. But I didn't much care either. Right now, I felt okay. He hugged me back.

"Its okay. everything's okay. Carmen, listen to me, it was just a nightmare. everything's fine." He said. I was shocked but happy.

"You mean, I didn't scream like a baby? and you didn't die? and we weren't just in the bathroom?" I asked confused.

"bathroom? Uh- no. You fell asleep. Its morning now but, you woke up and screamed...really loudly. It kind of scared me." He said biting his lip.

"Im...sorry. In the dream, you turned into a biter, and all I could hear was growling. They were surrounding the house."

"With that scream you pulled off, I'm sure they're swarming." He smirked.

"Don't tease me. I haven't been around humans in a while. I was afraid."

"Afraid of?"

"Losing you." I said. He blushed.

"Oh...I meant like another...you know...person. You two are my only chance of surviving...that's...that's what I meant." He looked somewhat disappointed but sighed in relief either way. He sat down next to his still unconscious dad. I couldn't wait till he woke up.

"So, your group, were do you suppose they could of disappeared to?" I asked him.

"I have no clue. These woods are probably the best place to go missing. And we're close to Winter, so we'll be losing daylight much quicker. We need to schedule this. If you really, really want to risk helping me find the others..." He said.

"Yes. I'll risk it. I won't abandon you. there's always a reason why people meet each other. A purpose and a plan for everything." I said smiling.

"That's what Hershel used to say..." He mumbled to himself.

"Whose Hershel?"

"the doctor that was killed in our group. He was a good guy. really good." He said sighing.

"Well, he was right. there is always a reason."

"Why do you think your in my life?" He asked me.

"Well, to be honest, probably to find your group."

"That's it?"

"To be...uh friends?" I tried.

"That's it?" He asked again.

"Well, what do you want from me?" I huffed.

"never mind. Sorry that was stupid."

"Agreed."

"...Shut up, Carmen." He said obviously annoyed. I giggled at his seriousness and stood up. I leaned against the couch.

"Gosh, Carl. Why are you so up-tight?"

"I'm up-tight?" he asked

"You hold a lot of responsibility...yeah."

"Hm." he responded.

"Carl, why didn't you shoot me? You know when we first met?"

"Did you want me to?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I don't have a good meaning to live."

"You have me. You said you would help."

"And I intend to do that. Its just...I don't see any point in living. Your perfectly capable for looking for your group."

"That doesn't mean you should die. And anyways, you had your gun pointed at me too."

"I was just scared."

"How do you know I wasn't?" He asked. I was out of words, nothing to argue with, so I just sighed dejectedly and sat back down. SCREECH! A screeching noise outside in the streets saved us from a big argument. We both simultaneously grabbed our guns and ran outside. A silver van was stopping and starting abruptly loosing gas until it came to a complete stop a few doors down from my house. We looked at each other, both puzzled, then we jogged to the van. A woman with a gray pixie-cut and kind eyes stepped out of the van.

"Carl?" She said surprised to see him. I wondered if she was part of his missing group.

"Carol!" He said and ran to her with a small hug.

"Carl, where are the others? And Daryl?" She asked pulling away. He shook his head no.

"No the prison-" He started.

"Was blasted to bits. I know I came back and found it all on the ground. I hoped no one was dead. The governor?" She asked. He nodded a yes.

"And...Hershel...was killed by him. The Governor's dead. But we all got separated some way or another." He said.

"And whose this?" She asked finally taking notice of me.

"That's Carmen. Me and my dad are staying at her place. And tomorrow, we're searching for everyone else. My dad was beaten pretty badly though, and so far he's not waking up. Could you...help us?" He asked looking up at her with his big blue eyes. She sighed then nodded. We helped her bring all of her weapons, not to mention food, into the living room.

"Are you hungry?" She asked me. I nodded with a grin the size of Jupiter.

"Here, have a sandwich." She said handing me a plastic bag with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I swore this was heaven.

"So what do we do about my dad?" Carl asked.

"Well, we could try testing his senses." She suggested, "Sweetie, do you have any alcohol?" She asked. I eyed her suspiciously but grabbed a bottle of alcohol from the cabinet in the bathroom. She poured a quarter of the bottle onto a wash cloth and put it up to Carl's dad's nose. He immediately sat up. I jumped away.

"DAD!" Carl screamed. I'd never seen him happier...then again I've only known him a day.

"What happened? Carl? where's Judy?" He asked rubbing his eyes tiredly. Carl's smile faded away.

"Uh- dad I'll go get you some water." He said and ran off into the kitchen. I Stood there awkwardly watching.

"Carol!?" He said looking surprised to see her. She smiled.

"Didn't think you could keep me away that long did you? And anyways I did a lot of thinking about what I did...and I realized it was wrong." She said looking at him.

"What did you do?" I asked Carol. She hesitated a bit before explaining the whole thing top to bottom. To me, it didn't add up why someone as sweet and caring as her, would ever kill anyone. Once she finished, Carl was finally back with his Dad's water. He took a sip.

"Carl, who is this?" He said looking at me then raised his eyebrows at his son. Carol laughed lightly at his expression.

"Well...dad, when we came into this house and you know, you collapsed?" Carl said hoping he remembered. His dad nodded for him to go on.

"Well, this is Carmen's house. She found us here, and she helped me take care of you." He explained.

"Oh, well, then nice to meet you Carmen. Is there anybody else living here?" He asked me.

"No. Just me." I said, he nodded thoughtfully before asking me,

"How old are you?"

"Fourteen."

"And your parents?"

"Well, dead."

"I see...Carl, have you two found anyone else from the group?" At least he remembered mostly everything except for the death of his baby...

"No. We were going to go search today when Carol parked out in the front." His dad tried to get up but bit his lip and cried out in pain. He looked pretty pale, so I told him to lie back down.

"Dad, can we go search?" He asked hopefully and desperately wanting to look for the rest of his group.

"Carl,-" He started to say

"Dad, you have to trust me. Just this once. We have Carol we can count on. And anyways, didn't you come to me when the walkers took the fence down? Didn't you trust me then?" He pleaded with his father.

"Alright, alright. Only if Carol goes with you. And I'm not sure Carmen should go...its dangerous." I scowled at him.

"For your information, Rick, I can take very good care of myself. I've been living in this hell hole for three years now, and I know these woods better than anyone. So don't you dare go insulting me. I'm going. With or without your permission." I said standing up straight and walking out the front door to meet a very bright annoying sunshine.

"Carmen?" I heard Carl exit the front door too, he had his gun in his hand and now, a cowboy hat was on his head. It was actually kind of cute.

"Yeah?"

"Are we doing this _now_?" He asked me.

"Yes, yes we are." I said smiling to myself. This would be fun. I haven't been outside in a whole month. He shook his head in disbelief but followed me towards the woods anyways. I heard Carol come jogging after us.

"You know where your going, Carmen?" she asked me.

"Absolutely, We all meet here. At this park bench." I said indicating a bench that was in the middle of nowhere, "To prevent getting lost, I grabbed some yarn to help us find our way back." I said. I probably sounded really nerdy, but who cares right? If they didn't want to die then they would have to listen to me.

"I'm confused..." Carl said slowly. I rolled my eyes at him.

"We each tie a different colored ball of yarn to the park bench, then we all go different directions and in an hour we meet back here. If there's any problem with...you know...the _things_...then whistle as loud as you can. Screaming's way too loud. Learned from experience." I said. They both looked at me strangely as I took over this whole search. I handed Carl blue yarn, Carol purple, and yellow for myself. They didn't say a thing as we tied the yarn and went in different directions. Carl took North, I took South, and Carol took West. We all agreed we'd go East together. I watched Carol leave and was about to watch Carl leave too, but I stopped him. I walked over to him.

"here" I said grabbing his hand and placing a small but handy gold object in his hand. "Don't get lost." I said half smiling. He smiled back. And then we walked away not looking back even once.


	3. The compass

**_- credits to FloodFeSTeR and Beckah Godric-Northman for the great advice and helping me make this next chapter happen. Also I apologize for how boring this chapter was but I promise it will get better!_**

It had been at least five minutes since I had started walking deeper in to the forest. I was about 5 miles in when I noticed my string was about to end. I cursed under my breath and started walking back empty handed. I got back to the park bench in only 3 minutes to find Carol sitting there impatiently. She stood up when I walked over and asked me,

"Have you seen Carl?" She asked with eyes full of concern.

"No...why?" I asked.

"'cause I found this on my way back." She said holding out her hand to show the gold object I had given carl before we left. It was my compass. I cursed under my breath again. Carol continued to talk while my mind raced with the possibilities.

"Is everything okay?" A voice said from behind me. I spun around with excitement. It was Carl! I beamed at him, but when I looked over and frowned. Next to him was another girl. She was obviously part of the group, but what was she doing so close to him? She looked our age as well. She had dirty blonde hair, and blue eyes. I turned back around and gave Carol a look. Carol noticed and talked for me. She was trying her best to hold in a laugh.

"We're fine. We found this and thought you were in some kind of trouble." Carol said handing him the compass. He looked at it then flashed a smile to me, which I gladly did not return. What was wrong with me? He looked confused as to why I was upset but didn't question it.

"Yeah, must've fallen out of my pocket." He said turning back to Carol, "I found Lizzie." He said giving Carol a small smile. She smiled back at him while I watched from the background. Carol walked up to Lizzie and hugged her.

"How are you?" Carol asked.

"I'm fine. Are you okay? Carl told me everything. About you too." She said turning to me. I shrugged and kicked some dirt.

"We should get back." I mumbled.

"No Wait! We found someone else, she's not part of the group but she helped me ever since we all got separated." Lizzie said to me. Behind Lizzie, was a woman who was about 26 years old. She had dirty blonde hair like Lizzie's, green eyes like mine, and a little sprinkle of freckles like Carl. I thought it was weird to see a little bit of us three in her. It made me feel uncomfortable. I met eyes with Carl, and looked back at the woman.

"What's your name?" I asked her.

"Elena. Elena Hanchittle." She smiled at me. Carl glanced at me before saying

"Were you with a group earlier?"

"No."

"How many walkers have you killed?" He asked. Her face darkened.

"As many that got in my way." She said harshly. Me, Lizzie, Carl, and Carol gave each other unsure looks.

"Got in your way of doing what?" I asked her slowly.

"Nothing, they all tried to eat me...so I fought back." She said. Then tossed a compass. My compass. I caught it. I thought Carl had the compass?

"Where did you get this?" I asked her.

"Your friend's easy to steal from." She said winking at Carl. Me and Lizzie laughed. I liked her already. She reminded me of my mom. I looked to see Carl glaring at the ground, embarrassed.

"Hey don't dwell on it." I told Carl and walked through the woods with Lizzie. I still didn't like her but we both had something in common. We loved making Carl embarrassed. Carol walked along side us dragging both Carl and Elena with her.

"Its getting dark. We should go back right?" Lizzie asked me. I nodded. Why hadn't she asked Carol? I was not willing to be the leader here. Walked back to the front yard of my house and walked inside. Rick was still on the couch. He immediately sat up as best he could and embraced a hug with Carl.

"I was getting worried." Rick said.

"I'm fine dad." Carl said and smiled at his dad.

"Lizzie, glad your back." He smiled at Lizzie, she smiled back.

"Rick, this is Elena, we found her out in the woods." I said. Elena looked over at him and he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of her. She gave him a small wave and blushed a little. I looked to see how Carl was taking this, he had told me about his mothers death. Carl looked a little annoyed at the type of attention his dad was giving her.

"Alright. Well, I've heard Rick's always been the leader, so I guess we should just leave you two alone" I said indicating everyone else to leave. I walked outside followed closely by Carl. Lizzie looked like she wanted to join us but Carol told her to come into the kitchen with her so that they could eat. I walked into the front yard and sighed. It was chilly outside, since Winter was almost here.

"Lets sit up there." I told Carl closing the front door.

"On the roof?"

"Yeah. Trust me its fun." I said. He nodded. I stepped on top of a trash bin and made my way up onto the slightly curved roof.

"So what's with you and Lizzie?" I asked him.

"What are talking about?" He asked as we both sat crisscross on the roof.

"You guys seem close." I said hugging my knees toward my chest and shivered.

"I barely know her. And anyways last time I talked to her it wasn't a very fun conversation." He said frowning.

"Oh well. And Elena? How do you feel about that?" I asked. okay, so maybe I pushed him a little too far with personal questions, but how else could I start a conversation with him?

"I don't know."

"She seems pretty into your dad."

"Could you just stop it,Carmen? They just met one minute ago. Why do you just assume everything is about relationships?" He said frustrated.

"I don't know." I said quietly and looked away.

"I really don't know why I followed you up here anyways." He said angrily and climbed down the roof without saying a word.

"Carl?" I called down to him. He didn't answer and walked in the house slamming the front door. I cringed. Great. Now I really screwed up. I climbed down and entered the house after sitting in the cold for about 5 minutes.

"Hey, Carmen, you want to eat?" Carol asked me as I walked through the kitchen, that lady was a true mom. She was flipping eggs in a pan on the stove. Where'd she get the eggs? I wondered.

"No thanks. Lost my appetite." I mumbled and grabbed a water bottle. She watched me leave concernedly. I walked to my room and opened the door to find Lizzie sleeping in my bed. I groaned. How nice of her. I decided not to wake her up so I just walked to my parent's room. I haven't been there for years. I opened the door to see, of course, Carl sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed. I closed the door a little bit and sat on the floor without making eye contact with him.

"You know, I actually thought you were a good friend...helping me find my group and taking care of us. But so far your just nosy." He said glaring at me.

"You really take things too seriously. I brought you into this house, now if you don't mind, get out of my parent's room and you might as well go join Lizzie in my room." I snapped back and stood up ready to leave.

"She's not my girlfriend." He said plainly. I stopped at the door, huffed and left him alone.

"Carmen? Can I speak to you?" Rick asked me as I entered the living room. I shrugged and walked over to him and Elena.

"Do you know what's wrong with Carl?" He asked me. I told him the truth, I told him exactly what he told me about it.

"He's right, Carmen, I barely know Elena. But if you want I could talk to him about what he said to you." He suggested.

"No thanks, Rick." I said and stood up and walked back to my parents room. Carl was still there.

"Why are you still here?" I asked him.

"Because I realized what I said was wrong." He said.

"Whatever." I mumbled.

"Sorry." He said quietly.

"What was that?" I teased him.

"You heard me. I'm gonna go check on my dad." He said and laughed a little. Wow, he really was bipolar.

"I'm sorry too, I guess I was being a little stupid." I called after him. I sighed a little relieved that everything was okay now.

"AAHH!" I heard a piercing scream down the hall coming from...my room. I ran in there.

"Lizzie?! Are you okay?"

"Yeah...yeah I'm fine. Bad dream is all. I've been having loads of nightmares lately." She said shrugging. I sat on the floor of my room.

"Tell me about it." I said sarcastically.

"Okay. Well, I had a dream that Carl kissed me then you two both died." She said sadly. Okay, that was definitely not what I was looking for. I rolled my eyes at her.

"K, well whatever. got to go." I said standing up. I didn't come check on her to listen to her boring love stories. And back into my parent's room.

"Carmen?" Carl peeked his head into the room. I nodded at him, "Walkers, a whole herd out there. Dad says we got to move." He informed me.

"Your dad can barely sit up, Carl. How are we supposed to move him?" I asked.

"I didn't think about that. But we either do something now or never." He said.

"Crap. Okay. If their not too close, I think our only option is to run..." I trailed off still thinking about what to do about his dad.

"What about the roof?" he suggested.

"Nah. They'll smell us then we'll be surrounded with no way out. And anyways, I kind of figured that we would have to leave some time." I said. He nodded then left me in there to my thoughts. What were we going to do about Rick? We couldn't leave him here. there was a small chance that the biters would get in here if we boarded it up, so what if one of us stay with Rick and the rest leave somewhere safe until they pass by then we regroup and find new shelter. I nodded with satisfaction. I got up and met everyone else in the living room and explained what we could do.

"I'll stay here with my dad." Carl offered. I shook my head then smirked.

"Carl, I think you should watch over Lizzie, instead." I teased Lizzie as she turned a bright crimson red color. I'll stay with your dad, and you, Lizzie, Elena, and Carol can find some place safer." I said. Carl reluctantly nodded.

"Okay. Be careful, Carmen, Rick, please." Carol said with tears threatening to spill. I smiled at her and hugged her, shook hands with Elena, and merely glanced at Lizzie. Then again there was Carl, my partner in crime in which I only met two days ago. I walked over to him. He put his hand out for me to shake but I ignored it and hugged him tightly. "Do you have it?" I whispered in his ear. He nodded than pulled out the compass from his back pocket. I smiled to myself then said," Good." I hoped this would help them find us.

I let go of him and nodded at Carol to reassure her and they left through the back door. I pushed all of the furniture except for the couch up against the front and back doors, and windows to block the biters from coming in.

"Rick, if anything happens, can you walk?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I can try. We'll be fine." He said reassuringly to me.

"Do you like Elena?" I asked him. He looked at me than nodded.

"She's sweet. Probably a good addition to the group. We still have to find the others, but at this point we have other problems." He saod.

"I meant as more than a group member...like a little more than friends?"

"Look, Carmen, I know you apparently like romance but I barely know Elena. Maybe if I get to know her bterr than I will let you know." He said then winked

"I'm sort of doubting this plan." I mumbled to myself. Another self made plan that would hopefully turn out right.

"You shouldn't. Your a smart girl you can figure things out for yourself. You and Carl seem to get along well, I'm not sure about you and Lizzie, but you all would make great leaders." He said. I snorted at the thought of Lizzie being a good leader. But then again would if he was right? Would if we found everyone else in their group then we were the future leaders. Woul there be a future? I wondered. Would the others be okay? Would Carol, Elena, Lizzie, and Carl get back? Rick rolled over in the chair so that his back was faced toward me and he dozed off. I heard growling coming from outside and then the herd began.


	4. The White Rose

SORRY THIS CHAPTER'S REALLY SHORT! BUT I PROMISE MORE ON THE NEXT ONE. PLEASE REVIEW I DON'T MIND IF IT GOOD OR BAD BU T I REALLY LOVE GETTING REVIEWS AND I WOUOLD RELLY LIKE TO READ ANY SUGGESTIONS OR IDEAS FOR THIS STORY ! THANK YOU!

I stood, guarding the doors and the windows and checking on Rick every few minutes. He was visibly getting better. After about an hour the herd had finally passed and nothing really happened. I looked out the window at the front of the house and sighed wishing me and Carol had some sort of walkie-talkie. I heard a soft knock at the front door. It was Carol. I swung the door open and immediately hugged her.

"Miss me much?" She teased me.

"Ha. Ha." I said unenthusiastically. She grinned and walked into the living room. Then Elena. Lizzie. And finally, Carl. I smiled at him when he walked through the door, and he smiled back. I gave him a small hug, happy that nothing had gone wrong. We walked into the living room with the others. Rick had woken up and was happily talking to Elena while Carol and Lizzie were having a very heated conversation in the corner. I frowned at them and walked over to Rick.

"So, where did you guys hide?" I asked Elena. She smiled down at me and answered,

"Not very far, Carmmy. Just around the corner in the woods. We ran into maybe one or two walkers, and that's about it." She said.

"Carmmy?" I asked her curiously at the new nickname she gave me.

"Can I call you that? I give nicknames to everyone." She said and ruffled my curls._ Just like mom_, I thought to myself.

"Yeah its fine." I said, Carol walked over to us with one hand on her gun and the other resting behind her neck. She seemed nervous and worried.

"Guys, me and Lizzie thought that maybe we should all find a better shelter. That herd could be seen miles away from where we were, and we're thinking there might be more and we might not be as lucky next time." She said looking at Rick for an opinion. I glanced at Lizzie, but her expression told me something else. Rick nodded slowly.

"I think you're right. We need to find the others anyway. Its been too long." He said muttering the last part quietly. "I want to find Mika." Lizzie added, and Carol nodded eagerly.

"Alright, so how about me, Carmen, and Carl go pack up, and Carol you and Lizzie could help Rick to the car. I'll drive." Elena said taking over. We all nodded in agreement. Me and Elena jogged into the kitchen and stuffed plastic bags with Carol's food and water. Carl ran into the kitchen and stuffed bags with ammo, extra guns that belonged to my dad, and a first aid kit. I heard a car start at the front of the house. I hurriedly ran out the door with the bags, along side Elena and Carl. The others were already in the car. We threw the stuff in the trunk and jumped into the van.

After a few miles of driving on the similar road that got boring five hours ago. We saw no sign of life on our journey to a safer place. And of course Lizzie has to go to the bathroom. Elena pulled over near the woods and allows Lizzie, me, Rick and Carl to go with her deep into the woods just so Lizzie could pee. We left Carol to watch over the car and supplies. Carl tapped me lightly on the shoulder. I turned to look at him. He held out his hand and smiled. I felt my face heat up and I couldn't conatin the smile that grew bigger and bigger on my lips. He laughed at my reaction. He handed me the most living thing I'd seen since the apocalypse. A white rose as fresh as anything could get these days, bloomed beautifully in my hand, with little rain drops from the previous night on its petals. I smiled as I ran my finger along the long stem. I mouthed a thank you to him and he nodded. It was weird seeing him all sweet and soft.

Once Lizzie was finished we started walking back when a woman's voice shakily rang out, "S-stop, right there." She said. We all turned around surprised to see a tired looking woman of about 50 with a gun pointed at us. Rick immediately reached for his gun in his holster but before he could, the woman pointed the gun in his direction, and he put his hands up in surrender. What now? I thought. "I'm going to count to ten, and if you move I shoot you." She said, closing her eyes and very slowly counted up to ten. Who did she think she was? I thought to myself. I opened my mouth to say something, but Rick put a finger to his lips. I looked around for Lizzie, but I couldn't find her anywhere. Rick slowly backed away. The lady was obviously driven mad, because she would laugh every time she said a number. She got to three by the time her eyes snapped open.

"I SAID NO MOVING!" She screamed and started breathing heavily. I looked at Carl concerned at the same time he looked at me. His eyes said _run_ while mine said _no we'll die. _He sighed lightly and bit his lip in thought. I looked down at that beautiful rose he had given me and thought about the way I had blushed. I mean sure romance was cute with Elena and Rick, disgusting with Lizzie, but I had never thought too hard about how I truly felt about Carl. I stared at the white rose and thought about the bond I had formed with Carl, and now I finally realized. I liked him. A lot. How had I not noticed that before? I wasn't sure how he felt about me, but once we got this out of the way I would tell him.

I smiled to myself almost forgetting the woman who stood with a gun pointed at us in front of me until the trigger was pulled. I didn't look up when the trigger was pulled. I didn't move. I didn't make a sound. I didn't hear a sound. All I could focus on was the color that my white rose was turning and the ringing in my ears. It was Red.


	5. Author's NOTE

PLEASE READ:

Sorry, I know no body really likes authors notes, but I just wanted to let you all know that when and if you review I would love to know who you think was shot. Or what you think happened. Please PM or Review your answer. Thank you !


	6. treading the water

I looked up from the stained rose to see who or if anybody had been shot. Rick, was busy angrily strangling the woman, so he hadn't been shot. My eyes immediately looked over at Carl, but nothing, he seemed to be staring into space...same with Elena. I knew sure enough that I hadn't been shot. Where did the blood come from? It had to be bad, my rose was barely white anymore.

"Rick." Elena said gently but cautiously, when Rick had finally pried the gun out of the woman's hand, Elena motioned with her eyes at _me_? What was going on? I wondered. Rick slowly got off of the struggling woman without breaking his gaze from _me_? Then I saw Carl doing the exact same thing that the others did. They didn't move. Carl immediately snapped out of it and jumped.

"Wait!" He screamed, but it was too late another trigger had been pulled.

"Carl?" I said puzzled and looked at him. He shook his head vigorously. I started to slowly turn my head to my right sensing motion.

"Don't." Carl said gently, attempting to stop me from looking to my right. I ignored him and saw on the floor was Carol? Carol's body was lying face down on the ground with blood leaking out of her left leg. She was visibly breathing heavily. Barely alive. How could a freaking _bathroom trip_ go so horribly?!

"NO!" I screamed and covered my mouth. Another shot rang out. I screamed again. I gasped abruptly as a few tears escaped my eyes, I looked at my rose that was now completely red, then I looked straight into Carl's eyes. I felt a nerve in my back screaming with pain. I took a few more gasps of air and turned around to see a man about 6 foot 8 with a handgun and a stern look on his face. He motioned for the older woman on the floor to come to him. She ran to him.

_I cursed under my breath as_ my breathing became more rapid and my sobs blurred my vision. I slowly and painfully backed away from them and towards Carl. I met eyes with Carl. I saw sorrow, shock, and rage all mixed into the stormy cast he had over his eyes. I looked over at Carol hoping she was alright. Then back into Carl's eyes. His big blue emotional eyes. I felt myself get lost in them and then I fell to my knees with a thump on the damp forest ground.

The pain slowly disappearing as I continued to stare into his eyes. Sorrow, shock, and rage soon turned to worry. But I didn't care. I took one final gasp and fell right in front of him onto my stomach. I felt the rose that I had been clenching so tightly in my nervous sweaty hands, slip and roll onto the ground. I couldn't see anything but black and red spots. I could hear everything though. Which was much worse than death. Carl's scary threatens aimed at the man and woman, Rick trying to calm him down, Elena coaxing Carol to relax a bit, and Lizzie...damn Lizzie who was crying.

Then I heard a few moans from the biters, a few more gun shots, and finally the last sound I heard was a heavily crying Carl whisper to me "I love you." Those were the words I had waited so long to hear. The words I never thought I needed till' now. The words that would finally pull me out of my misery and suck me into a much better world. I felt the loss of blood get to my head and became lightheaded till I couldn't feel a thing.

_ALRIGHT SOOOO HOW'D YOU LIKE IT? I LOVE LOVE LOVE REVIEW SO MUCH ! SO PLEASE REVIEW IF YOU READ THIS ! LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT...WELL EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN THIS CHAPTER ! THANK YOU!_


	7. Reaching the sunset

Half of my brain was thinking, were those going to be my final thoughts? But how come I'm still thinking? The other half of my brain was telling me your dead, idiot, stick with it.

But no. I wouldn't take that. I couldn't take that. No dying. Carl _just _admitted to me that he loved me. How much better could life get in a world like this? I couldn't give up. I told myself that over and over again until I realized I never had given up. I was still hearing Carl threaten the two psycho paths as there footsteps became distant. Nah. I was alive. I laughed in my head. Wow, I'm too dramatic. Thinking that I was dead when I could still hear, think, smell, and not really see, was just dramatic. But I could tell everyone else thought I was dead. I couldn't give myself the strength to get up yet. At all. My back was still in tremendous pain. I tried talking. But my voice came out too hoarse and quiet.

"No. I'm not leaving her. Let go! I'm not." I heard Carl say to who ever was trying to get him to leave.

Elena said, "Carl, she's gone. Its over, and I'm really sorry. I miss her too. It happened so fast, but we have to go." There was no response to that. I listened for Carol's voice but heard nothing but Lizzie's sobs and her murmuring, its all my fault over and over again. Get with it Lizzie! I wanted to scream.

"Please...please, just check her pulse one more time." He said. I wanted to cry at how hurt he sounded. I heard a person crouch down beside my "dead" body.

"Fine, Carl, but this is the third and last time, okay?" That was Elena. I felt two extremely cold fingers press up against my neck.

"See? I'm sorry, Carl, but-wait a minute." She stopped herself short and flipped my limp body over gently. "I-I think I do feel something." She said in bewilderment. I couldn't open my eyes but I felt a small smile creep on my lips probably not noticeable.

"I told you!" Carl said. Elena ignored his comment and said,

"Oh...my god. Rick, help me carry her back to the car, Lizzie you help Carol to the car." So was Carol alive? I wondered. I felt my body being lifted and carried gently over, I guessed, Rick's shoulder. I screamed at the pain I felt in my back. And so now I talk? I face palmed. Okay, so now my hand was working too. I felt Rick gasp in surprise nearly dropping me.

"C-Carmen? Are you okay?" he asked me quietly

"As good as ever." I replied hoarse and quiet. He chuckled lightly. My eyes opened a bit as I lifted up my head an inch. I felt around my swollen eye and decided I must have gotten a black eye from when I fell on my face. How did I survive that? I wondered. I lifted my head a bit higher from Rick's shoulder and found that Carol was not dead and was being helped by Lizzie, who had Carol's arm around her neck to keep her upright. I sighed in relief happy to know that everyone was alive so far.

"Is she awake?" I heard a quiet familiar voice ask. I smiled into Rick's sleeve. I still felt too weak to walk, and even talk well enough to respond.

"I think she's asleep." Rick replied to Carl.

"Rick, were almost there, do you want me to carry her? Your still a bit hurt yourself." Elena said.

"I'll be fine. Were here anyways." Rick said as we approached the car. I shut my eyes and prayed we wouldn't be facing any biters in the car. Carol must have heard gun shots and came looking for us before she got shot, and left the doors wide open. Prayer received. No biters this time. I felt Rick lie me down across the three back seats. I flinched at the new pain that was throbbing in my head and at my back. I opened my eyes again to find Carl, Carol, and Lizzie sitting in the Van's trunk, looking out behind us, as we drove down the never ending road. Carol's leg was elevated up against the back window. Elena was driving and Rick was sitting in the passenger, seemingly lost in his own thoughts.

Carl turned around and smiled when he saw I had woken up. I smiled back, then frowned at how pale and worried he still looked. He bit his lip at my reaction and turned back around. I sighed and did my best to sit up.

"Where are we going?" I asked in a barely audible raspy voice.

"We're gonna camp out in the woods for the night. Elena and my dad are going to find a sanctuary. Get pain killers and stuff to treat you and Carol. We'll keep an eye out for anybody too." Carl replied, since he was the only one who heard me clearly. I nodded unsure whether he was referring to the two people who were crazy enough to open fire at us or to his still missing group. I guess that was one of the reasons why I hadn't given up and just let myself go into a deep never ending sleep. Or was it because of Carl that I chose to not go down that path? I was still confused. I felt extremely uncomfortable camping out in the woods. I'd had terrible experiences out there. Then I remembered my rose. Was it still here? I reached around for it on the seats.

"Whatcha lookin' for?" Carl asked.

"The...rose..." I answered. My voice was a lot less hoarse and more clear. He looked around too but shook his head.

"We must of left it out in the woods. Why would you want it though? Its covered in blood."

"Its what kept me alive." I said and sighed frustrated. I sat up normally on one of the seats trying to ignore the pain in my back. Carl climbed over and sat next to me.

"Hey...Carl?"

"Hm?"

"Is...is the bullet..._in my _back?" I asked nervously.

"I'm not sure." He responded looking over at me.

"Could you...could you maybe...check for me?" I asked even more nervous. Was there a whole in my shirt where the bullet went through? Hmm...

"I...uh...sure." He said blushing a crimson red. Why was he blushing so much? I turned so that my back faced him and I was looking out the window. I saw Carol and Lizzie whisper something to each other and giggle as they turned there attention back towards the road. Maybe they knew why. I grabbed my hair and pulled it to one side so that it didn't get in the way. He lifted the back of my shirt up to where the wound was and took a deep breath.

"T-the bullets not there...I think it just pierced your skin a little deep but its not...in your back." He said gently pulling my shirt down again. I nodded a thanks to him and turned back around. Now things felt a little bit more awkward. Carl was still blushing a little.

"So...um, what do we do about Carol's leg?" I asked Rick. Rick also had a very tiny hint of a smirk plastered on his face when he turned around to respond.

"What Carl said, pain killers and treatment. Bandages and all. I learned a bit from Hershel, just in case." He responded. I recognized the name Hershel as the innocent doctor that Carl had mentioned died at the prison. I started thinking about Carl's baby sister and wondered if she really was still out there. I sure hoped so. His expression hardly changed from frown or exhaustion. One night I'd heard him talking in the middle of a nightmare. He mentioned the name of his sister, Judith.

"How's your back, Carmmy?" Elena asked glancing at me through the rearview mirror.

"Am I supposed to know how to respond to that?" I asked her. She smiled a little then turned back to the road.

"You know what I miss most before this all happened?" Lizzie said out of the blue. Me and Carl turned our attention to her.

"What." I said unenthusiastically.

"Christmas. Its getting colder, and winter is probably coming. Would if we all went downtown or something and we each did that secret Santa exchange gift thingy?" She asked, her face lighting up brighter than the sun. I turned back around rolled my eyes and snorted at the thought. I mean sure it was nice and all, but did she not realize how that could get us all killed. Then it hit me. Of course! That was why she was sort of an air head...it was because she wasn't fully adapted to the possible dangers in this world.

It all made sense giving me no reason to hate her anymore except for the fact that she could never stop obsessing over Carl.

"STOP!" Carol screamed at the top of her lungs. Elena abruptly slammed the brakes. And gave Carol an _'are you kidding me?'_ look.

Rick turned around and his eyes widened. He jumped out of the car and ran a little ways down. I squinted and could barely make out three people standing there hugging Rick. I gasped excitedly. It must be people from there group.

We all got out of the car and ran towards Rick and the group. I walked over in addition to my back, and tried to help Carol a bit with her leg. We got there and it seemed as if everyone was talking at once.

A young woman with dark brown hair, a country accent, and brown eyes held out her hand to me after she had hugged everybody except for me and Elena. She gave me a warm smile.

"Hi there. I'm Maggie, this is Daryl and my younger sister, Beth." She said with eyes full of excitement. I smiled weakly at her.

"I'm Carmen." I replied and shook her hand gently.


	8. Where the Stars Align

"Rick, we were tryin' to follow that bus with the children n' Glenn's in there. We have to after it. It went that way." She said pointing down the road that we were driving down.

"How long ago was this?" He asked Maggie.

"Just 'bout 10 minutes ago. Where you've been? I found Bethie and Daryl out here in the woods after the...uh...incident. We've been out in the woods for a while now. No food, shelter, nothin'."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Maggie. Well, Carmen, let us stay at her place for a while but wasn't long til the walkers caught up to us. And then...well some complications happened." Rick explained. Maggie looked at him concernedly as Lizzie stared at the groung.

"What knid of complications, Rick." She asked slowly. He sighed tiredly as he ran a hand through his tired hair.

"Well, Carmen and Carol were shot by two people, male and female. Carol in the leg and Carmen in the back. We were on our way to a to get medications." He said.

"Oh no. That's terrible...well, Daryl was bout to rig a car we found." Beth said.

"Alright, so half of us can go the pharmacy and the other half start down this road, and follow the bus. If we can get them to stop, then we'll meet up." Rick said.

"How well we know where to meet up?" Beth asked.

"This road doesn't turn in for about 30 miles. So if we hurry up we can make it before the road turns and before we lose too much daylight." I said.

"Sounds good. Carmen, you did say you knew these woods better than anyone, do you happen to know where a pharmacy could be?" Rick asked. I nodded.

"It in a real awkward place. I shoulda told you earlier, Rick, but its back up this street and then you turn right at the first stop." I said. He nodded.

"How are we splittin' up?" Daryl asked slinging a cross bow over his soldier. Dang this guy was hot.

"I say Maggie, Beth, Carl, and Lizzie go after the bus and Daryl, Elena, Carol, and Carmen come with me since Carmen seems to know where she's going." Rick said. We all nodded in agreement. I was a little uncomfortable with leaving Carl again.

In truth I only trusted him and I knew I would get sort awkward around the other adults, except for maybe Elena. I felt really...protected by him and I didn't want that bond to break. But Rick was the leader and I knew if I didn't do this, then me and Carol would never heal and eventually lose too much blood. It was a do or die situation.

"Okay. Lets go." I responded walking over to the car that car Daryl was trying to rig. I didn't look back at Carl. I didn't say goodbye because I didn't want to say goodbye. I watched as Maggie led the three of them over to the van up the street. I sighed and got in the car. Rick and Elena stood outside talking. Carol sat in the passenger as Daryl starting to bring the car back to life.

"So how did you guys survive?" I asked Daryl. I liked getting to know the people I would be travelling with before we travelled. He stopped playing with the wires and looked at me. Then went back to the wires. He took a minute to answer me.

"Not easy." Was all he said. I nodded and looked over at Carol. She leaned over to me and whispered, "He's not very social at first. Just got to get to know him better." Then she winked. I giggled lightly and met eyes with a confused Daryl. I expected him to question what Carol has just said but he just rolled his eyes. The engine started running and Carol and Elena joined me in the back.

Rick drove and Daryl took the passenger seat. I looked out of the window and sighed as we started back up the street to the corner. Someone tapped me lightly.

"I think you forgot something." Elena said and smiled at me. I grinned and took the rose she was handing me. She looked at her hands that had a bit of dried blood from the rose. She scrunched up her nose and asked Carol if she had sanitizer. I laughed. I missed my mom, but Elena was so much like her, I felt like she was still here sitting next to me. we turned the corner and arrived at a hill and parked in front of it.

"Carmen, ya know how to shoot a gun, correct?" Rick asked me as he led us up the small hill filled with pine trees. I nodded as he handed me a rifle. I raised my eyebrows at the gun. It was a ton more heavier than I had expected, but pretty manageable.

Daryl rose his crossbow and walked along side Rick. Then I noticed the four of them were forming a sort of a protection square around me. Elena and Carol behind me and Rick and Daryl behind me. Maybe I really could warm up to these people.

"Alright, Carmen where to from here?" Rick asked me.

"Passed this hill, around a corner and we're there." I said. He nodded as we turned the corner. I tried my best to ignore the pain I received in my back as I turned around to check on Carol and her leg. She was doing pretty well. There was the sanctuary. Still standing and looking like crap. It looked terrible and scary even before the apocalypse, but it was the only pharmacy for miles. Rick stopped to look around the building. Daryl shot a few biters square in the head. I liked his crossbow, silent and deadly.

"Alright, no walkers outside or inside, all cleared." Rick said. I was really hesitant to going in, but I did it anyway.

We all had our weapons up and Rick pulled out a flashlight from his back pocket. We all separated and investigated aisles full of medications. Carol headed me a plastic bag to fill with different medications. She gave me orders saying that some of the people on that bus were sick and would need medicine. I nodded and added a few boxes of painkillers for me and Carol.

"We should start goin' the bus is gonna get too far if we stay 'ere." Daryl said.

"Alright, lets go." We walked outside again with no problem at all. We all got into the car again and started driving back down the street that the others had gone down about 10 minutes ago.

"I hope their alright." I said clenching my rose tightly in my hand.

"They'll be fine. We just hit 25 miles. If we're lucky enough we'll find them along the way." Rick said confidently. We drove faster then we needed to. I think everyone was anxious at who or what we would find. Carol and Lizzie needed to find some girl named Mika. Rick and Carl needed to find Judith. And I found my rose. I looked down at it. The rose was covered in red and became one of those romantic red roses...except the red was blood making it sort of un-romantic. Rick stopped the car and I looked up again. We got out to see Maggie and a young Asian man hugging in front of a bus.

I looked around and saw Lizzie talking to a younger blonde girl. I guessed that was Mika. Carol walked over to the two girls. Carl and Rick were having a deep, serious conversation. I saw no sign of a baby, but at least more of their group was back together. I wondered how many more people were missing and what we would do once did find them.

"Anyone see Michonne?" Daryl asked a group of people. They all shook their heads. I guess that meant only one more person was missing and the baby. I hoped they were together, because if they weren't that poor thing was gone for sure. I saw Rick and Carl look at me a few times during their conversation. I was glad that everyone was together again, but where would I go?

That's when I remembered the only reason I was here was because I had promised carl I would help him find his group. It made me sad thinking that I wasn't truly part of their group or was I? After a while when Rick and the others were at my house, they had grown used to me being there. Would things be that way now? Or should I leave. the look Rick and Carl told me that it would be a really bad time to leave. or at least it would be right now. I walked into the now empty bus to the way back.

"Hey." Elena said walking in. She sat beside me and looked at me thoughtfully.

"what's on your mind, Carmmy?" She asked.

"Just...things."

"Carl?" She said smirking. I blushed and tried holding back a grin. I gave her a mock-serious look.

"Course not."

"Was that sarcasm."

"Course not." I said and I laughed with her too.

"Its okay,Carmen, to like someone. You know that right? Everyone in this world needs somebody." She said giving me a side hug.

"Yeah, like you and Rick?" I smirked.

"Course not."

"Oh, shut up." I said and playfully pushed her.

"Alright, lets go Carmmy. We should probably get out there before people think we're missing." Elena said standing up, "Oh and why are you always holding that rose of yours? You haven't put that rose down since I found it an hour ago." She added.

"I know...it just reminds me of freedom. Even with the blood." I said, she shrugged and led the way out of the bus.

"Hey, Carmen. This is my husband, Glenn." Maggie introduced me to a young Asian man. I smiled and shook his hand. As I was shaking his hand I saw something...a bit odd going on behind him. I squinted my eyes a bit, seeing Lizzie with a gun up, and the biter she was pointing at was...my dad...I cursed under my breath. No one seemed to notice. I ran towards them repeating the curse word over and over again. Carl, Rick, Maggie and Glenn were chasing after me.

"Stop! Stop it! LIZZIE!" I screamed, but it was too late she shot my daddy. MY DADDY square in the head.

Everyone stopped. There was no sound except for my heart beat. Lizzie turned around to see me charging at her. She screamed before I knocked her down. She was trying to kick me off but I was pinning her to the ground. Anger was pouring out of me.

"HOW COULD YOU! YOU IDIOT! YOU SON OF A-" I was pulled off of her was being carried and held back by Daryl as I threw invisible punches in the air trying hard to get back at her. Hot tears were pouring out of my eyes. I watched as _Carl_ helped Lizzie up. It was the heat of the moment that made me even madder at the fact he would be helping her. She just killed my dad.

"LET GO! LET GO OF ME! LIZZIE I HOPE YOU-" Daryl put his hand over my mouth before I said anything. But I licked his hand and he dropped me. Crap. I forgot about my back. I screamed out in pain, I knew all eyes were on me but I didn't care. I stayed on the ground, hanging my head low and my hair was covering my face like a drape. I was still crying out in pain and in sorrow and rage. My back hurt so bad that I was screaming with each breath I took out. I felt two arms wrap around me and looked up to see Elena hugging me. She had tears in her own eyes. everything was silent except for my constant crying/screaming.

"Sweetie...sweetie. You have to get up now." Elena whispered to me as I hiccupped in between screams. The pain was unbearable.

"Carmen? Hun, come on. We...we have to go now. Come on. I know it hurts but you have to try." She said trying to help me up. I couldn't move though. It hurt too much. She picked me up and carried me, I must have lost a lot of pounds because she carried me as if I was not fourteen but was a baby instead. I cried into her shoulder. What have I done? I was most likely going to get kicked out of the group.

"Shh...shh. Its okay now. Your okay, Carmmy. We're going into the bus okay? Gotta fix up that gun wound of yours." Elena said attempting to smile, but it looked so forced...

"W-what about carol?" I sniffled. I was acting like such a _baby. _

"She's alright. We're going to treat her after this. Are you okay?" She asked me. I didn't respond. She sighed and put me down on the seats.

"I'll be right back, okay, Carmmy? I'm going to go get a few of the others..."

"No, no Elena. They would never forgive me. They won't. Carl will _never _forgive me." I said. Twisting with pain.

"You need the help and trust me, I know Rick. He understands. Everyone's lost someone, Carmmy. Carl has too. And everyone, I know everyone will forgive you. Okay? Now just relax a bit." She said before turning around and leaving. I looked out the window and sighed. Carl was outside arguing with his dad. I felt like it was my fault because he kept pointing at the bus. I groaned and leaned my head against the window. And the crying fit starting all over again.

"Hey, Carmen. This is going to be quick and it might hurt so, you want to take a pain killer real quick?" Carol asked as she walked in the bus with Elena and Maggie. I nodded. Then drank down two extremely small pills down my throat.

"You know, Carl was out there yelling at his dad cause he didn't let 'im come see ya." Maggie said smiling at me as she laid out a roll of gauze, alchol, and other stuff I couldn't identify. I smiled at her.

"That boys falling head over heels for this one." Carol said laughing along with the other girls. I rolled my eyes and half smiled at them. Maggie poured some alchol on a wash cloth and dabbed where the bullet pierced my back. I screamed in pain. I really needed to stop screaming or else I would attract a whole band of biters. after she disinfected it, Maggie started wrapping gauze around my mid back to my belly button. She handed me my shirt.

"All done, Carmen." Carol said, and gathered the equipment. The other two walked out the door. I didn't even get the chance to thank them, but I decided to hide here for a while with Carol as she wrapped her leg up. After 5 minutes I heard a soft knock on the front bus door. I slowly walked over to the door and opened it.

"Hey." I said and let Carl come in.

"Hey, they finally let me in here." He smiled.

"Desperate much?" I smirked. His smile disappeared. I dropped my smirk.

"I was joking, Carl."

"Oh, I knew that..." He said. I walked towards the back of the bus and motioned for him to sit next to me. He sat down and frowned.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm...fine." I answered.

"Good, you kind of scared me with that fight you pulled off." He said. I took a deep breath.

"Sorry...you had every right to do that..." He added quickly

"No, Carl its okay. I didn't. She didn't know. And he was dead already anyways. I should have never done that." I said.

"Its okay. Everyone understands. Even Lizzie. She said she felt real bad for you." He said.

"Is she...okay?"

"She's fine. Not even a scratch. Everyone's worried about your back."

"I'm fine." I said. We sat their in silence. And out of no where I hugged him. And I didn't dare let go.


	9. Journey to a better place

I moaned, waking up slowly with a pounding head ache. I rubbed my eyes and ran a hand through my hair. I looked to my right to see the bus filled with everyone that I had met yesterday. I guess fell asleep on the seat. Carl was sleeping in the row next to mine. I couldn't help but think he looked pretty cute asleep, he was breathing lightly and comfortably. I yawned and kicked my jacket that was draped around me like a blanket off.

"Morning sleeping beauty." Elena whispered happily and already dressed. I moaned again.

"I'm anything but." I said then added, "plus I'm not a blonde or pale." I yawned again.

"No, sweetie, your half African American. I can't see how that's possible." She said then laughed.

"Your weird." I said playfully and sat up. She sat next to me.

"You think_ I'm_ weird? I just saw you staring at Carl sleeping, ya little creep!" She said and laughed a little too loudly.

"Shut it. You'll wake everybody up."

"Rick and most of the adults are outside already. I think that just leaves you kids...and some of the Woodbury people." She said.

"The Wood what?"

"Long story."

"We've got time."

"No, we don't. We're going to take off soon."

"To where?"

"I...don't know..."

"Elena?"

"Yeah kiddo?"

"Would if...we all just die in the end. How exactly do we expect to live a full life here. Rebuild the population. Make the world safe again."

"I'm sorry. I don't know how to answer that, but you know what I can tell you is that there is a way to live. And we're going to find it. You trust Rick right?"

"Yes."

"You just trust me? and Carl?"

"Yes."

"Then, believe me when I say that you're in good hands." She said. I smiled and nodded.

"Yeah I know. But I wonder, is it a better place than this world?"

"See, that's the challenge, Carmmy. We have the chance to have an adventure. We may be seeing the "better place" when we die...but right now we get to try and conquer the most difficult world there is to live in. Once our bodies are tired and we're ready to rest from the adventure, we'll reach the end. I promise, just don't go and do something stupid, okay?" She said.

"I won't." I said. She got up and left me by myself. I walked over to the still sleeping Carl. I shook him lightly.

"Carl..Carl wake up..." I whispered. He took a deep breath, moaned in his sleep, and rolled over so that he was facing the back of the seat. I huffed then sat down on the floor. After a few minutes he took another deep breath then rolled over again. He opened his eyes slowly and smiled still half asleep. I smiled back and sat next to him. He didn't sit up though, he just kept laying down. He didn't seem to mind me just sitting there next to him.

"hey." He mumbled, propping his head up with his elbow.

"Hi. You tired?" I asked. He nodded and yawned.

"Didn't sleep well."

"I could tell. Nightmares?"

"Yeah. You?" He asked.

"Too many." I responded. Scooting over a bit to let him sit up. He sat up and grabbed his hat, setting it down on the floor.

"That's hilarious." I said and giggled.

"What is?"

"Your hair. Its a mess." I said. he rolled his eyes and smiled.

"It always is. You haven't noticed?"

"Not with that hat on." I said. I leaned over and tried my best to smooth his hair down. Then I had a little fun with it. I shaped it up like a Mohawk that refused to stay up. I laughed at his now lopsided hair.

"Ugh, Carmen, what did you do?" he asked.

"Oh nothing too bad. Just a hairstyle I personally think looks..._interesting _on you."

"Interesting? That's all I get?"

"Okay, you baby. Its _cute." _I said. He laughed.

"Whatever. Wanna get something to eat? I think Carol said she still had some leftover bagels." He offered. I shook my head and scrunched my nose at the thought of bagels. Ew. and anyways I wasn't feeling exactly ready to face anyone yet since that fight I had with Lizzie.

"I'm not very hungry but thanks. Catcha later?" I asked.

"Yeah. Dad said we were leaving after breakfast, so I'll just come back here." He said and walked out of the bus through the back door. I brought my knees to my chest not able to stop thinking about the nightmare I had last night. It was me and my dad, but this time Lizzie wasn't the one who had to kill him as a biter, it was me. I shook my head trying to rid the image of my already dead father falling to his final death. It had been about 35 minutes when everyone had come back inside and sat down ready to leave to wherever we could. I kept getting rude looks from some of the Woodbury people that Elena had talked about. I guess they were all scared of what I would do if they mentioned my father. I looked out the window and waited for Carl to board the bus. He walked in and sat next to me in the very back.

Elena sat not too far away from us with Rick and frowned at me. I started wondering what had gotten her so upset? I would talk to her later. Daryl told everyone that he would be driving and to have a seat. The way Elena had looked at me put me in an anxious mood all day as we drove for 30 minutes. Rick and Elena kept whispering and after about an hour I couldn't help it anymore. I got up and walked over to her at the same time she stood up to talk to me. I gave her a puzzled look as Rick joined Carl at the back. She dragged me over to the empty seat.

"Sorry 'bout that Carmen. I just thought...maybe we should talk a bit. See, I've been thinking well with Rick, that this whole you and Carl thing...its not what you may think it is." She said. I felt myself get a bit upset.

"What do you mean, Elena. You just told me that _everyone_ needs somebody in this world?"

"Yes...yes I know what I said. But we've been talking...and we think that you and Carl are falling into a relationship a bit too quickly."

"Who's _we?!_ and who said we're in a relationship!?"

"Calm down please. We as in the council. And sweetie, we just don't want you two to become too attached and then something bad happens to one of you than the other is in a mental state. You get it?"

"Whatever."

"Promise me Carmen, you'll be...careful? I don't want to see either of you get hurt."

"Fine. But don't think "the council" can just ask me to get rid of my only friend and say everything will be okay. 'Cause its not." I said and faced away from her. The rest of the trip I occupied myself by pulling my hair into a fishtail braid, and thought of everything that she had told me. Maybe she was right, and I was overreacting. I guess one of us would be in a mental state if anything happened. I would just have to sort of stay away from him for a while until we could compose ourselves.

The bus stopped in front of a large hotel that was in the middle of no where. They couldn't possibly think we would be safe here, could they? Cause that was just plain stupid. I mean sure, lots of space, for everyone, but did they even think about how many biters we would have to kill? It would be endless. Rick stood up and walked to the front of the bus.

"Alright everyone. So we are here at a place we think is safe to call home for now. We'll be sleeping in the upstairs bedrooms, so that its safer. I'm going to have a group of 10 come with me to scout around the entire hotel and shoot as many walkers as you can without getting hurt. We need to inspect every corner of every room and hallway, the rest of you please stay in the bus until one of us says its clear. I need Glenn, Maggie, Daryl, Beth, Elena, Carol...Tyreese...well, actually how about Carol stays in the bus with everybody. Tom and Frank. And, Carmen and Carl." When he said our names, everyone looked towards the back of the bus to us. For different reasons though, the council looked at us because of the "relationship" conversation and everyone else looked at me because of that fight I pulled off yesterday. I could see it in their eyes. They hated me. We all walked out of the bus as Rick directed us some more.

"Glenn and Maggie, I want you two to clear all of the lobby. Daryl and Beth clear the first and second floor. Elena and Carmen clear the third and fourth. Tom and Frank clear the fifth and sixth. Tyreese you and Carl come with me to the seventh, eighth, and ninth floor. There are about 15 rooms on each floor. If we're lucky their won't be too many people in each room. I know, its a lot of work, but nothing we can't handle. I chose you 10 because I depend on all of you. No scratches or bites. Please. I don't want either of you to get separated from your partner. This requires teamwork and diligence. We all meet back outside in front of the bus once your done...so go ahead and get started." He announced. We all walked inside with our guns raised. Luckily their was still sunlight outside so that we could catch any movement.

A few biters came limping over but Daryl silently shot them with his crossbow and took the arrows out of their heads. Glenn and Maggie stayed in the lobby continuing to shoot at any that got in our way until we reach the stair case knowing the elevators most likely didn't work anymore. Daryl and Beth wished us luck before disappearing through a door as we continued up the stairs. Then me and Elena came next at a door.

I was nervous as hell and couldn't stop shaking. I gave Carl one last glance before going through the door with Elena. We shot a few biters in the hallway. Luckily not over 4 were in the hallways, but we ran around all of level 3's hallways about 4 times before going into the rooms.

"Should we go into different rooms to make this quicker?" I hissed at her. She shook her head no.

"You heard Rick. And anyways, your fourteen, Carmen. If anything happened to you...lets just say I would probably die of grief."

"That's comforting." I mumbled. We kicked the first door open. And to our surprise their were only two in the room. But we checked under beds, in the bathtubs, closets, everywhere in each and every room. We were finally finished with the third and fourth floor. Me and Elena did as we were told and waited in front of the bus along with everyone else except for Rick, Tyreese and Carl. We sort of figured it would take them longer since they had three levels to check, but after an hour I was just about losing patience. It had been too long.

"I'm going in." I announced to everyone.

"Carmen! Remember what you promised?" Elena called after me.

"We're talking about lives Elena! Not love."

"Look, I know you want to help them, but I'm sure they're fine."

"_Elena. _Its been an hour!"

"She's right, Carmen I'm sure they're fine." Glenn said

"If he dies. Its on you. All of you."

"Carmen, what's happening to you sweetie? Your acting out. Whenever you think theres trouble you kind of lose it."

"_Lose it, Elena?_ At least I'm trying to help! Wanna know what I think about this?"

"Carm-"

"I said I would stop liking him. I know what I said. But right now they could die. So if you idiots think its right to leave them behind. So be it." I said. I waited for one of them to react but they just kept glancing at each other and at me. I cussed and walked back into the hotel, running toward the stairs. I ran up them until I got to the last floor.

"Rick! Ty! Guys?! Carl?" I called out to them down the hallways. The floor was eerie, quiet, and dark. I stuck my head in some of the doors.

"Carmen? What you doin' here?" Tyreese asked coming out of one of the rooms.

"Ty!" I yelled and hugged him. He seemed surprised, but he was one of the people who appreciated me in this group and he was the only one who supported me and Carl's apparent "relationship" that wasn't even real.

"Alright, alright. Is everything okay? Someone get hurt?"

"No... I just...got worried. And I was the only one had the freakin' balls to come up here." I said crossing my arms. He laughed half-heartedly.

"Well, we're almost done. Sorry we took so long. Rick was almost bit and your boyfriend had a heart attack."

"Is Rick okay? And he's not my boyfriend! Why do people keep saying that?"

"He's fine. I think they were just finishing up in the last room." He said ignoring my last comment. I nodded and made my way over there with him. We knocked on the door.

"Is everything okay? Carmen? What are you doing?" Rick asked as he came jogging to the door.

"I came looking for you...its been an hour."

"It has?"

"Yup."

"Oh well, I'm sorry." He said, I shrugged and walked into the room, shooting a biter while I was at it. Carl came hurriedly out of the bathroom.

"Its clear." He announced looking at me with a small goofy smile. I wanted to laugh but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I remembered what Elena said, and gave him a sympathetic look. He sighed noticing what I meant and shrugged. We all walked downstairs and outside back to the bus. The council gave me a sad look, I could tell they had been talking about everything.

Everyone in the bus joined us inside as Rick assigned rooms to everyone. We all felt safe and a bit happy.

After five days of ignoring Carl, Lizzie came up to him and hugged him one day and announced that she shot her first walker. He looked at her sort of confused then plastered a fake smile on his face. I wanted to laugh, though it was hard to laugh right now. No body really cared except for Mika, Rick, and Carol. I felt myself grow kind of far away from Carl after time. It wasn't an act of rudeness, but we knew that what his dad and Elena had said was true.

"Hey, Carmen. How ya doin'?" Maggie said sweetly walking in and sat next to me on my bed in the room that I shared with Elena.

"I'm alright I guess." I said and gave her a weak smile. she put an arm around my shoulders.

"Is it hard for you guys?" She asked me thoughtfully.

"No, not really. We weren't even in a relationship." I lied. but the fact that we weren't in a relationship was true, I didn't feel like I knew him anymore. I was sort of empty without him.

"That's good, hon." She said. I smiled.

"How are you and Glenn?"

"We're good as usual. He's not sick an' more, unlike some people." She said.

"Yeah. Some people...well, at least he's better."

"Yeah...I.." She trailed off.

"What's wrong, Maggie?"

"Oh...nothing. Sorry,"

"Mags?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you and Glenn ever think of having a baby?" I asked her. Where had that come from? I guess I just thought it would be really cute if they did.

"Oh, I'm not so sure 'bout that. I guess this is a good place to have one. But the truth is, Carmen...I think I would be kind of scared..."

"No, I understand. I'll never know how you feel, but I get it." I said.

"Alright, now. I just came to check on ya. Maybe you should eat somethin'. Lena's been tryin' to get you to eat ever since your dad passed." She said. It was true, I had refused to eat for days now. I barely had the energy to talk. I nodded.

"Maybe your right, Mags. I'll come by later." I said. She nodded and closed the door behind her. I stood up and leaned against the window sill looking out into the woods. So far we were making a pretty good living here. Now all I had to do was try hard to stop thinking about Carl. That was a tough one.

HOPED YOU LIKED IT! WHAT DO YOU THINK'S GONNA HAPPEN NEXT? PLEASE REVIEW YOUR ANSWER~! I LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU ALL!


	10. Perfect Day

"The hells that?" I asked Maggie as I walked into her and Glenn's room. She was folding clothes and her eyes widened at the box on the ground. She kicked it under the bed.

"So how'd you sleep?" She asked me.

"Maggie, what was that?"

"I-ugh. Its nothing."

"Oh...no. No, Its _definitely_ somethin'." I said and quickly grabbed the box from under the bed.

"CARMEN!" She yelled, I tried to spell it out.

"C-cun...no...condames? What? Con-con-OHHHH!" I said. She face palmed.

"The hell you using this for?!" I said and kicked the box back under the bed. Her cheeks flushed.

"So, I will politely ask you again, how did you sleep?" She said not making eye contact with me.

"Well, not so well. How did _you _sleep, Maggie? Or did you even sleep at all?" I smirked at her. She glared at me, but ignored the comment.

"You miss Carl? I fought against separating you two when the council met ya know."

"Thanks Mags, but its not too big of a difference. Its over. I don't want to think about it really. I think its best I keep my distance."

"So your not thinking about him...not even a little?"

"Your kidding right? I can't stop thinking about him. I can't help it." I said.

"Sorry but I think what Rick said has some truth to it." She said folding more clothes and laying them on the Queen bed.

"It does. A truth I hate believing in." I said sitting down on the bed. She studied me then smiled reassuringly.

"I'm gonna go eat breakfast." I said. She squealed.

"Its about time! We all thought you were starving yourself!"

"Ha, I was. But I really wasn't hungry, and look? I left my room." I said and smiled proudly. She clapped her hands slowly and sarcastically. I rolled my eyes.

"Is Elena down in the lobby?"

"Yeah, she went down to eat a few minutes ago." She said.

"Kay, thanks." I walked down the stairs to the lobby. Carl was sitting with his dad and Elena. I was about to walk over to Elena, but thought against it. I walked over to Carol who was filling plates with eggs and toasted bread. I thanked her and sat by myself on a stool. I didn't look up from my food, still mad at everyone for thinking me and Carl ever had something. I mean, sure I liked him, but that didn't mean he felt the same or that we had something. Some people, I swear. Elena walked over to me. I didn't look up not even once. I gave up and looked up at her expectantly.

She was smiling big and blushing furiously. She grabbed my wrist and dragged me to the little living room farther away from where Rick and Carl were sitting. She was so out of it she didn't even notice my plate and uneaten food fall to the ground as she dragged me.

"Guess what?!" She asked me. I was going to say something real sarcastic but she spoke before I could.

"Rick...he sort of, kind of..."

"What? You guys made out? Then, Carl caught you and got mad. Then you talked to him and everything's alright."

"Actually, good guess! Except for getting caught."

"You guys made out!?" I asked raising my eyebrows.

"Something like that..." She said putting on a real goofy smile. I laughed.

"Wow..." I said not knowing what to say.

"Yeah..."

"That must've been weird.

"Well, actually no..."

"You _liked it?!"_ I asked. She put her hands up in surrender.

"I didn't say that!"

"You _so _liked it."

"Shut up! He'll hear you."

"Ooooh you guys are teenage rebels now huh?"

"What? No. ha-ha, I promised myself I would be a role model for you."

"So your asking me to make out with someone."

"Carmen!" She snapped. I laughed.

"You never said a _good _role model!" I laughed. She punched my arm playfully.

"I think your the real rebel here."

"What? What do you mean?"

"All of the Woodbury people think your super brave and stuff." She said. I snorted.

"As if." I responded.

"So...how did it happened?" I asked her.

"Well...I got up in the middle of the night to grab some water from the lobby. And of course, I just had to bump into him..." She paused, "And well I said I was sorry and he said he was sorry...and then it kind of just happened." She said with that goofy smile back on.

"Wow, that's convenient." I murmered.

"Why?"

"I may have followed you to the lobby...and sort of saw you guys make out. It was sweet, but gross..."

"Carmmy! Why did you followed me!?"

"Don't get mad at me! I thought I was in a dream!"

"Yeah, right."

"No, I'm serious. I sleep walk a lot when I can't sleep well or if I feel scared."

"Oh...really?"

"Yeah.."

"Why didn't you sleep well?" She asked me. I didn't really want to talk about it. It was a dream of me and Carl of course like all of my dreams, I die. Was that even normal?

"I don't remember." I lied.

"Hm. Well, can I go talk to Rick?" She asked blushing at his name. I nodded, wondering if she truly meant "talk". I looked over to where Rick was and noticed Carl looking at me hopefully. He quickly looked away. I sighed and walked to Carol for more food that I would most likely not eat.

"More food?" She asked happily.

"You bet. Guess where mine ended?" I joked.

"So I'm guessing you heard about Elena and rick huh?"

"How many did she tell?" I asked her surprised she would tell anyone other than me or Maggie.

"She didn't. I might of over heard." She said than winked.

SORRY THIS WAS SO SHORT ! PROMISE NEXT ONE WILL BE LONGER. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! REVIEWS MEAN A WHOLE LOT TO ME!


	11. For infiniti

"Carmen! Wake up!" Elena screamed in my face. I sat up bumping heads with her along the way.

"Owww. what's wrong?"

"Nothing, you weren't waking up."

"Maybe because its like 2 o'clock Elena."

"What were you dreaming about? You kept screaming in your sleep."

"I was?" She nodded.

"Get dressed. Its time to get up." She said happily than walked into the bathroom. I rubbed my head and jumped out of bed. I stood up and walked over to my duffel bag and pulled out a dark blue t-shirt, ripped jeggings, and my dark brown boots. I let my hair down out of its braid for the first time in a month. It was curlier than usual, but luckily, instead of poofing out like it normally did, it stayed in place in dark medium sized ringlets. Elena walked back out of the bathroom.

"Since when do you have curly hair?" She asked me surprise.

"Um-Lena, I've always had curly hair. I just keep it in a fishtail all the time."

"A fishtail?"

"A fishtail braid, Elena? Seriously what do you know?"

"I'm trying hard to not find that insulting, little girl."

"Sorry."

"Oh well."

"Can I talk to you about the whole...jumping into a relationship thing?"

"Yeah, sure. Sit." She said tapping the side of the bed. I sat down next to her.

"Alright, what are you and the council _really _worried about. You all knew that we're just friends. And suddenly you want us...at a distance. Elena, what's going on? Cause its really scaring me. The other day, Rick tried hard to keep us going in separate directions. And by hard I mean like hours of blocking our paths. what's with that?"

"Look, sweetie, I can't exactly tell you."

"I thought you were my mom-I mean um-friend. Sorry." I said blushing and looking down.

"I am, its just some things are meant to be kept a secret..." She paused.

"You know what? I've never been good at secrets anyways, so eh. Okay, what's really going on is that, Rick is real worried that maybe, Carl is the one getting sort of attatched. Not you. Not both of you. But him. The other day he told me that Carl couldn't sleep a minute without worrying about if your safe or not. He thinks, that it may be possible that Carl will end up heartbroken if anything happened to you."

"By...keeping us away?"

"Sort of. Yeah." She said. I looked down onto my lap and then covered my face with my hands.

"Are you okay?"

"No. No I don't feel so good." I said putting my head in my hands.

"What are you feeling?"

"Hurt."

"You can't stay away from him for at least a month?"

"No. No, I just can't. So what if I do like him, Elena? I feel like freakin' Romeo and Juliet...Just, no. I can't. He's my best friend. My only friend at that. So how could Rick possibly think this wouldn't effect me some how? How is this supposed to help?" I asked.

"I...I don't know, hon. Listen, I'm gonna go eat. You want anything?" She asked sweetly. I shook my head.

"You haven't eaten in 6 days! This is not going to help you."

"I don't care." I snapped. She huffed at the doorway then closed it gently. I heard her whispering to Rick outside the door.

_"Rick this isn't right. We can't torture them. I don't understand why they are...pretty attatched...but she hasn't eaten, she's been locking herself away in the room, not talking to anyone but me and Maggie...I mean, come on! she's sick as hell Rick!"_

_"I know...I'm sorry...that was a bad idea I just don't know what else to do...Carl's been telling me he can't take it anymore and I'm scared he's going to do something stupid...what is it with these kids?"_

_"I don't know, rick but I'm going to find out what it is. Before we do any more damage to them." _And with that final snap I heard Elena stomp away from him. A soft knock sounded at the door. It didn't even take me a guess to know who it was.

"What." I said. Rick opened the door and walked in.

"Sorry. I just thought I could talk to you."

"I don't know why." I mumbled into the sheets of the bed.

"Huh?"

"I don't know why we like each other, Rick! Its a normal stupid teenage thing, okay? So don't go tryin' to understand it when we barely understand it ourselves."

"Look, Carmen, I'm sorry. I really am. I just got worried about you two. I'll tell Carl you guys can hang out again."

"No. Damn it, Rick. Just don't. Its gotta happen naturally. This is all just drama. So can we cut it out? I want to go on that run with you. I need to get away from this."

"... are you sure you want to come?"

"Yes."

"You sure?"

"Its either that or I go searching for the rest of your group. You choose. I have to get outta here before I go insane."

"Fine, how about you look for people. Its less dangerous. I'll have Lizzie, Carol, and Carl go with you." He said then walked down the hall. Great, so when he finally lets me and Carl be friends again, Lizzie has to come along with us.

"Rick." I stopped him.

"Yeah?"

"You really screw with my brain." I said plainly. I was surprised to hear him laugh. Maybe he knew how much I hated her.

TWO HOURS LATER

"...Oh yeah and then Mika...and then the little girl from Woodbury was all..." Lizzie said. I blocked her out because that's how much I cared. Me and Carl groaned as she went on...and on and on with stupid stories. We were walking aimlessly through the woods in doubt we'd find anyone. I heard growling come from behind us. Me and Carl turned around quickly. The biter knocked her down attempting to bite off a chunk of her.

"LIZZIE! Watch out!" I screamed. Carl shot it in the head quickly.

"Carl! You saved me!" She said getting off the floor. She ran up to him and hugged him tightly. GROOOSSSSSS. What a hooker, I thought and rolled my eyes. She even looked at me to see if I cared. Idiot. He scrunched up his nose and gave me a 'help me' look. I laughed and smiled at him, my green eyes caught movement from our right. I snapped in that direction.

"You see that?" I asked.

"Yeah, I did." Carol responded. The four of us jogged up a little hill and we saw...it was Judith! Carl's sister, at least I hoped it was. She was being carried by an African-American woman with dreads. The lady had her katana sword out and the baby facing the opposite direction. She dropped the sword, ran towards Carl and hugged him.

"I thought I would see you again." Carl said. She smiled at him and handed him Judith. More people Yippee! He bounced his baby sister in his arms.

"or you." He added and smiled at his sister. I looked around and saw a curtain tent that was in a sort of den looking place.

"Michonne, I have a lot to tell you." Carl said and stopped bouncing Judith.

"Could you hold Judy for me?" He asked me. I nodded and took her in my arms. She was _adorable._

"Hi, cutie! Whose the prettiest baby in the world?" I talked to her. She giggled and I started asking her where her nose was, where eyes were, all of that. Carl explained everything to Michonne starting from when he met me to the hotel and the rest of the group was found.

"How are the Greene girls?" She asked concerned, once he was finished.

"They're better. Maggie's happy to be with Glenn again."

"I would imagine. So whats your name again?" She asked me.

"Im Carmen." I said then smiled at her.

"Are you Carmen Hanchittle?" She asked me. I looked at her surprised. that was Elena's last name...what was this about?

"I-uh don't think so..."

"Huh, well you've got Elena's eyes..." She said more to herself than to me.

"wait...you mean Elena Hanchittle? I know her...she-she's at the hotel right now..."

"Hmmm...I was friends with her a couple years ago before the outbreak. Well she had an older sister, I think her name was Luciana Hanchittle...but I believe she married and her last name changed. She married I think an African-American man. I can't be sure. They were two Hispanic sisters...but they don't look Hispanic. Does she have long strawberry blonde hair?" I nodded.

"Then, I guess you have an aunt you never knew about." This started to add up in my head...at the same time it made no sense at all as to why my mom would keep Elena a secret. Luciana was my moms name, I had the green eyes that Elena and my mom had...but the hair. Michonne was spot on with the hair. I had dark hair, like dad's, but every now and then I would find strawberry blonde highlights. And she was right about my dad too.

"How did you know my mom?"

"The three of us were friends back in high school but in college, your mother married. One day the sisters had this enormous family fight, and they never talked again for 4 years up until now. I doubt Luciana even told Elena about you being born. It sad 'cause they were so close." She said. I looked at Carl. He gave me a sort of confused look.

"Well...I...uh thank you for telling me this. Its good to know."

"Nice to meet you Carmen. Is your mom at the hotel too?"

"No she...she died 3 years ago during the apocalypse...along with my dad." I said and looked at Lizzie who had stayed pretty quiet.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Carol, how are you?" she said changing the subject.

"I'm good as ever I suppose." She responded. Michonne nodded and looked back at me.

"Michonne, your coming with us, right?" Carl asked hopefully. She nodded and smiled at the three of us. We started walking back.

"The only person missing now is Sasha and a few others. I think Bob died." Carl said to Michonne. She didn't say anything but glanced at him quickly before staring at the floor again.

"Can I maybe see your Katana sword?" I asked Michonne. Carl shot me a look that told me I shouldn't have asked. He held Judith close to him. But she handed it over. Carl and Lizzie gasped in surprise. I guess she protected this thing pretty well.

"Lets see what you've got." Michonne said with a challenging smile on her face. A biter came just on time and limped over to me. I lifted the sword and looked at its shiny blade for a moment before, a bit aggressively and harshly, slicing the things head off with it. I smiled as memories flooded my mind. I twirled it in my hand before tossing it back to her. The others just gaped at me in surprise.

"Just what I thought." Michonne chuckled unsurprised. I smirked.

"W-what do you mean by that?" Carl asked.

"Her mother was a big fan of swords too. I wouldn't be surprised if she took Carmen out for training." Michonne stated. I nodded.

"Every night." I responded. We got back to the hotel in a matter of minutes and walked into the lobby.

"You cleared the place in one night?" Michonne asked Carl in surprise.

"It took a lot of work but we did it." Carl said. She nodded approvingly.

"Where is everyone?" She asked.

"Out on a run. People from Woodbury, kids, and everyone else are upstairs. I think dad and Daryl went on a run." He responded. She nodded and made her way up the metal stairs with Carol holding Judith and Lizzie. I stopped Carl.

"Carl can I talk to you?" I asked him.

"Yeah." He said and walked back over to me.

"I-I just..."

"Yeah I know. Me too." He said and pulled me into a hug. I hugged him back. We stayed like that until Michonne peeked her head back into the lobby room.

"You love birds coming?" She asked. We jumped away quickly and Carl turned bright red. I blushed a little too.

"Y-yeah." Carl stuttered and we walked up the stairs to the fourth floor.


	12. New type of Illness

We finally got back to the hotel, and I left to go to bed early as Michonne and Elena talked, but Elena started crying when Michonne let her know that she was my aunt, that her sister died, and how she had gone looking for her. I decided to stay out of this and let them catch up. I would talk to her later. But right now I felt drowsier than usual. I walked up the stairs lazily and slowly to me and Elena's room. I locked the door and turned the lights off as I crawled into my bed comfortably. Then I slowly fell asleep...

Suddenly my hands were shaking, I was breathing fast, and tears were streaming down my face. I did what I normally did on the days I felt mental. I covered my ears attempting to block the sounds of growling out of my head, I squeezed my eyes shut, and shrieked. I kept shrieking at the top of lungs, I heard footsteps running down the hotel hall to my room.

"CARMEN! OPEN THE DOOR! WHATS GOING ON!?" I heard Rick yell into the room and bang on the door. I could barely make out his voice though. This was new.

I shrieked again. I was barely breathing and was shaking a lot more. It was getting worse. I saw my dad as a biter walking towards me and snapping at me. I shrieked again, barely grasping reality. But reality wasn't coming. I was still stuck in this mental state. Michonne had brought me pills from a run for mental or "special" people last week.

Of course I had forgotten to take them today. Images of my dad and mom were flooding my brain. I was crouched in a corner murmuring and shrieking with my ears covered and my eyes shut.

"PLEASE! STOP IT! STOP!" I shrieked through sobs. Every now and then Rick's voice would enter my mental state of mind and try to get me to open the door and come out of it. But I was too far deep, and by the time Rick was able to kick the door open, I saw everyone that was running into the room as biters too. I shrieked.

"Get away from me! PLEASE!" I yelled. I stood up and shrieked. I closed my eyes again not wanting to see it. I felt two arms wrap around me. I was abruptly pulled out of my mental state. And my eyes snapped open. Someone was holding me tightly from behind as warmth spread through me and I was still sobbing but I was out of the horrible world and into the real one. But the real one was just as bad.

I was in this condition when the apocalypse started, but I had refused to tell anyone about it. Nobody had known the illness except Michonne. I looked at everyone's scared faces. Their eyes were wide and they were looking at me as if I was possessed. In a way I had been. I was breathing heavily. Michonne, Daryl, Rick, Carol, Maggie, Glenn, Elena, Tyreese, and even Lizzie were there staring at me.

Michonne giving me a knowing look. I nodded at her. I hoped Carl hadn't seen my illness act out like that. But once I realized it was him holding me, I wanted to face palm myself. Of course he had seen that. He was still holding me, but I couldn't fully erase the memories of them all as walkers.

"A-are you okay?" Rick asked me. I didn't-couldn't exactly respond to that without saying no.

"Alright, its okay. You don't have to answer that, just...please tell me what exactly that was?" He said looking at me with a hint of shock. I sniffled and nodded. Carl let go of me and walked to where his dad was standing in front of the group. When he let go of me I felt cold again. The look on Carl's face left me heart broken. He looked scared as hell. I sat down with everyone still staring at me.

"I-I'm sorry, Rick. Its just...I-I couldn't..." I tried to tell him. But it was something I couldn't explain. I brought my knees to my chest and covered my face with my hands. I felt a hand rub my back soothingly. It was Michonne.

"Just tell them, Hanchittle." Michonne whispered using my last name that I had decided to use instead of my dads. I nodded.

"Okay...I...I may have a sort of mental illness...or confusion. Ever since my parents died...I wouldn't come out of the house...well I couldn't and I didn't eat much. After time I went a little crazy and I sort of went mental...I take pills for it...but when I don't I can't control it anymore. Its something about my brain that makes me...see things differently...and it scares me. I'm-I'm so sorry, Rick I should have told you. All of you." I said. Elena bit her lip and looked as if she was holding back tears.

"I didn't know..." Carl said looking as if he should have known all along.

"I should have told you."

"When we were at your house...and you said you had that nightmare and you screamed...was that what that was?" He asked me looking concerned.

"I-yes. That's what that was. But its never been this bad." I said.

"Carmen, its okay. Alright? Just remember to take those pills...you scared us half to death." Rick said giving me a reassuring look. I nodded.

"Alright we'll leave you now. I'll talk to you later Elena?" He asked her. She nodded and gave him a weak smile as a tear fell down her cheek. He wiped it away and smiled. Ew. Everyone left except for Elena and Maggie. Carl gave me one last look and then walked away. But in about two seconds he came running back in. He walked up to me, with puppy eyes.

"Could you...explain this whole mental thing to me?" He whispered. I nodded.

"Meet me in the lobby once everyone goes to bed, Kay?" I said. He bit his lip a bit nervously then nodded and left.

"Looks like you and Carl are talkin' again. Plannin' to run away together?" Maggie joked trying to lighten the mood.

"So, I suppose I'm your aunt..." Elena said with the smallest voice.

"Yeah, yeah you are. I should have known though. Your eyes..." I trailed off.

"Look just like mine. So I've heard." She said then pulled me into a hug, "I'm sorry Carmen, about your mom and your dad. That illness thing...that scared me, that was worse than seeing you turn into a walker probably." She said.

"Don't say that. You're scaring me, It could happen again, you know that."

"It can?" Maggie asked with a much less cheerful look on her face. Glenn walked into the room.

"You okay, Carmen?" he asked me. I liked Glenn just as much as Maggie.

"I'm fine, You better be usin' that box I found the other day in your room." I said pointing a finger into his chest. And then I laughed at his expression. He gave Maggie a look then he kneeled down to my height.

"Carmen, would you explain to me what box you found in our room?"

"Just that its used for-"

"okay, Carmen I get it. never mind." He said quickly cutting me off. I giggled as he hugged me.

"Get better, kid." he said before giving Maggie a nervous smile and leaving. I laughed,

"I better go talk to him." Maggie said before giving me a hug too and leaving me and Elena.

"You better go meet with Carl, before he gets too anxious." Elena said and winked.

"I find it funny you think we're gonna meet up in front of you all."

"You're gonna sneak out to the lobby?"

"Well I wouldn't call it sneaking if you know about it now." I said. She laughed half-heartedly still looking at me as if I would turn crazy at any moment.

"Take your pill, Carmen." She said before going to the bathroom to brush her teeth. I took the opportunity to slip out of the room. Even though she knew I would be leaving.

I tried as best as I could to quietly speed walk down the stairs to the lobby. I walked inside the lobby. It was completely dark since they had turned the generator off for the night. Thank god there was working water in this place. and a heater! That's when I remembered Christmas was in two days. I smiled at the good memories that I had of Christmas with my family. The family poor Elena was excluded from. I sighed slightly frustrated at my mom for abandoning her own sister for years. How bad could that fight have been? A voice snapped me out of my thoughts from behind me.

"You okay?" Carl asked. I turned around, to find him sitting at one of the stools at the little bar in the lobby.

"Just great. Didn't see ya there. How long have you been sittin' there?"

"Long enough to see you stare in the middle of no where." He said I rolled my eyes.

"right, well. Down to business then. Honestly I hate the dark. I can't even see you." I said and sighed in frustration. as I sat on one of the stools.

"I don't know. I kind of like the dark." He said.

"Why? Its scary."

"Its mysterious. Anything could happen."

"Yeah, but that's why I'm scared of it." I said and smiled unsure if he could see me smile.

"Well don't be scared, Kay? I'm right here." He said. We sat in awkward silence for a bit until he spoke up again.

"So, the reason we met here..." He said.

"Right. So, what do you want me to explain?" I asked into the dark.

"You said you see things differently right? What...what do you see?" He asked. I sighed trying to find the best way to describe it.

"Well...think of it this way...the only thing your mind allows you to see is walkers...and only walkers. You have nothing to defend yourself with because your mind just doesn't allow it. I die in all of my dreams as well. So anyway, anyone that's either part of your memory or talking to you, or standing there just comes to you as a walker whether they are or aren't in real life. So when you guys came running in my room I saw all of you as walkers. All of you were trying to eat me. But before you came, the reason why I screamed, was because I saw my mom and dad as walkers too." I said. I saw him nod in understanding.

"That is creepy. And your mind doesn't let you escape this? Even when you try?"

"No."

"Then, how did you come out of it?"

"I...don't know how to explain it. I mean whenever its happens, no one can get me out of it. I had it when I was little too. Except my mind envisioned clowns. I'm still scared of clowns...but walkers have taken their place. When I was little even my mom couldn't get me out of it. But when you...when you hugged me I could. I don't know why. But it just sort of...worked I guess." I said. He didn't say anything at first.

"So...if I hug you...then you sort of...snap out of it?" He asked.

"yeah...yeah I guess." I said.

"so like this." He said and hugged me from behind again. I felt my face heat up. But it wasn't just my face, I felt myself start to warm up. I was obviously blushing. But I could just feel myself get warm with one single hug.

"Uh-yeah. Like that." I said. He let go and I felt the cold winter air come back to me. I shivered.

"Sorry, that was weird." He said and sat back down. I could practically see his face turn a bright red color.

"No, no you're fine..." I said. I tried thinking of it in a way that it was a friend thing. Right? Wasn't that normal for a friend? Maybe not. I would ask Elena later.

"Well...I-thank you. for telling me." He said.

"Anytime, but if this could just be between us...please?" I said.

"Yeah."

"Okay...I should...I should probably go now..." I said standing up.

"Uh-yeah. Me too...Night."

"Night." I said. When I got back, Elena was still asleep. Why did I want to squeal with joy and jump on my bed? Which I did do...but why? I wondered. I remembered the way I felt when he hugged me and just thinking about it warmed me up and I drifted off into a good, much better sleep.


	13. Gone for the good

I woke up to the faint smell of blood and a really dark room, but I knew it was at least 6 in the morning.

"Elena?" I called out hoping nothing had happened to her. There was no answer. I quietly got my gun and got out of bed. I could hardly see a thing, but there was enough light to know that Elena was definitely not asleep in the bed next to mine.

I tried to follow the smell of blood but there was no trace in the room. I decided to try to look for someone hoping that everyone was alright. That's when I heard screaming down the hall. I ran in that direction to see one of the Woodbury people getting bitten by a walker. _How had that gotten in here?_ I thought then shot it in the head. I ran over to the woman and was eye to eye with yet another one. I shot it then asked if she was okay. She nodded, biting back pain, but I already knew she was going to die.

"Just...do it please." She begged me. I turned away and shot her in the head. Down stairs more screams rang out. I ran down the stairs into the second floor to find an entire walker infested hallway. Carl and Rick were sleeping on this floor.

"RICK!" I called out accidentally bringing the walkers to my attention.

"Crap." I hesitated before running the opposite way...but of course there were more coming from that way. _How had this happened?_

"Carmen, take that side. I've got this side." A voice said behind me. Rick was shooting them down one-by-one from the right side as I did the same on the left side.

"They're gaining up! Where did they all come from anyway?!" I yelled at Rick while taking 3 more down.

"We're going to need to retreat soon, so when I say go we run up the stairs and close the door!" He yelled back over the growling of the flesh eaters. I nodded in agreement, but found it getting harder and harder to take as many as possible down. They were gaining so much on me I was nearly back to back with Rick.

"Go!" He yelled. We ran up the stairs closing the door in the process.

"Where is everyone?" I asked him while running up to the third floor.

"I don't know." He said concerned, "Carl wasn't in the room when I woke up."

"Same with Elena." I said. We burst through to the third floor and knocked on every door. Telling people, if there were people, to get up and to get out immediately.

"Dad, what's going on?" Carl asked while coming out of a room.

"The place is infested." Rick said knocking on more doors.

"What are we going to do?" He asked.

"I have a bad feeling that there a lot more floors that are infested now. Carl, I want you two to go and warn more people. We're going to have to burn the place once everyone's out." Rick said. Me and Carl gaped at him at the thought of burning it.

"We don't have time. Go warn people." He told us. We both nodded and ran upstairs to the fourth floor hurriedly. We knocked on every door, but the doors that were open had more walkers in it so we just made sure to shut those tightly.

"Kids, what's going on?" Glenn asked coming out of his room.

"We're infested. Rick says once everyone's out we need to burn the place. But since we won't know for sure once everyone's out...then we might be dancing in fire soon. He told us to get people out quickly." I said. He nodded and went back into him and Maggie's room.

"We'll be right out." Glenn called to us and we moved on to the next one. I knocked on the door.

"Michonne! We have to go now!" I called through the door. The door swung open nearly hitting me in the process.

"You saw the first floor too?" She asked hurriedly. I nodded.

"Alright, let's go get more people out." She said more than willing to help us with her Katana sword. We each split up knocking on doors, warning people, closing the doors that had more walkers. Once we made sure that everyone who was alive in this floor and had made it into the lobby we moved up to the fifth floor, which was oddly enough, already empty yet full of walkers so we had to skip out to the sixth floor. This was where everyone else was. I knocked on a door and said hurriedly,

"Tyreese! Get up! We have to go! We're infested and we have to burn the place come on!" I screamed.

"I-I found Sasha!" He screamed in too much excitement to really hear me.

"TY! WE HAVE TO GO NOW! Where is she!?" I screamed.

"She's outside talking to your aunt!"

"Okay. As long as their out..." I mumbled to myself. He came out of the room acting as if he had just heard me. Next was Lizzie, Mika and Carol. Then Daryl, then Beth who claimed that Judith was in the upper floors at the time. We all met at the lobby room to make sure everyone was out. The odd part was, all the Woodbury people had turned. I wondered if it had anything to do with where we were sleeping.

"Is everyone out?" Rick asked. We all nodded, "Good, because I think one of the Woodbury survivors is laying out the gasoline in the top floor. We should get going." He said.

"Wait no!" I screamed remembering Judith.

"Carmen we don't have any time for this! Carmen!" Elena yelled after me but I was already up the stairs to the eighth floor with Carl following closely behind me.

"What are you doing!?" He yelled at me.

"Your sister! Judy's still up here!" I screamed. We ran down the hall to the room Judith was in. We thought that if she was on a higher floor then there was less danger. We ran in there to find baby Judith happily sleeping. Crap. we would have to wake her up. Carl took Judith in his arms and I took the duffel bag full of her baby formula and anything else she may need.

We ran down the hall, but as we did we felt the hallway get...a bit hotter. We turned around and saw an enormous fire just spreading towards us. We both screamed and ran as fast as we could towards the staircases. The fire was quickly catching up to us and the door was of course blocked by more fire.

"This way!" I screamed and turned the other way to the elevators. I pressed the button rapidly praying that the stupid elevator would start working. As if on cue apparently the elevators did still work.

We ran in and at last-minute the doors closed out the fire. We knew it wouldn't last long, and it was most likely that the place would explode. We had found a sewer outside of the hotel a few days ago, so we knew for sure that with fire, gasoline, and a sewer, the place would explode. It wasn't long until we got to the lobby, but everyone had gone outside.

We ran out, the fire still chasing us. We ran past the sewer and along with the others. Soon we were all running into the woods again. Carl handed Judith to Beth who ran faster than most of us.

I turned around and saw the fire reach the sewer and the next thing I knew all of us except for Beth were lying on the ground with burn marks and cuts on us. We got up dusting ourselves off and crying from the pain.

"Run." Rick said, "And don't look back."

PLEASE REVIEW ! SO WHERE TO NEXT ? SO, ONE LAST CHAPTER AND THEN THE STORY IS OVER, UNLESS ANY OF YOU WANT ME TO DO A SEQUEL, THAN I MAY HAVE SOMETHING IN MIND. I ALSO WANT TO GIVE CREDIT AND THANKS FloodFeSter FOR ALL OF THE HELP AND BRAINSTORMING SHE DID TO HELP THIS STORY COME TO LIFE, SO THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!


	14. Where the stars shine

Glenn, Maggie, Tyreese, Rick, Daryl, Carol, Lizzie ,Mika, Sasha, Beth who was carrying Judith, Elena, Carl, Michonne and I ran as fast we possibly could into the woods and away from the burning building. We were a group now, family, but as we were running I couldn't help but remember the people who had turned and the people who were trapped burning away with the rest of the building. We had guns, but that was it.

I sighed. Hell found us today. Hell would find us everyday as survivors, but as long as we all stuck together, we should be okay. Rick stopped running as he panted for breath.

We all followed his lead and looked back at the building. We knew that some of the people are trapped in there. But it was too late now. There was no escaping this. We lost everything and almost everyone, the bus, our food, clothes, water, and so many people.

I looked over to see a crying Lizzie and Carol but Mika was holding it together some how. We were all a mess, various burn marks on our clothes, a few cuts on our arms and faces, we were all crying a little. I couldn't believe that hell had found us so quickly, we were making the best living...and just like the prison these poor people lost everything again.

"We lost everything in that building, Rick." Carol said with tears pouring down her face as if reading my mind.

"No. We didn't lose everything." Rick said. We all looked up at him surprised hoping he may have food or water but of course we all had barely escaped the building in time.

"Each other. You see this? We have all been going through this since the beginning. We have all known each other for years now. Except for Elena and Carmen. But it doesn't matter. They're part of this too. So you say we lost family? Well, we all have but we are the new family now. Carol, you lost Sophia. Daryl you lost Merle. Beth, Maggie, you've lost your mom and your dad.

Elena and Carmen have lost their mom and sister. Lizzie and Mika lost their dad. Tyreese you lost Karen. Son, we lost your mother. We've all got something to lose, but while we still have each other. We are still a group. There's a way to live, and we're going to find it." Rick said. We all mustered the best smile we could.

"So where to now?" Elena asked.

"What else do you know about the woods Carmen?" He said turning to me.

"There's not a whole lot...but I think I know a good place. Its enclosed, it would be hard for walkers to get in to, and its huge." I said.

"What's that?" Sasha asked.

"The observatory telescope." I said smiling.

"You mean the place where people can look at the stars and stuff?" Lizzie asked.

"Yeah. Its huge, and I doubt there will be a lot of walkers to clear out. Plus the building is like a cylinder. Walkers can't just climb in." I said. Rick nodded.

"We'll head there. Where is it?"

"Exactly north from here. Its gonna take about 4 hours to get there by foot, so we might have to camp out in the woods." I said.

"Alright, we'll do that. That would give Daryl the chance to hunt for food. Is that alright?" Rick asked for approval of Daryl. He nodded.

"Lets go then." He said and we started a very long walk north. We decided to stop after 2 hours passed.

"Imma go find food. Rick you comin'?" Daryl asked. Rick nodded giving Elena one last look. Once they left and disappeared into the trees I went over to Elena.

"Why'd he look at you weirdly?" I asked her.

"Um-well, I broke it off."

"You what?!"

"I...sort of broke up with him..."

"Why?"

"Because we both agreed that if we ever wanted to be more than...boyfriend and girlfriend, like Glenn and Maggie, then it wouldn't be fair to you and Carl since I'm your aunt." She said then smiled. I gasped.

"You did that for me?" I asked.

"Of course sweetie." She said.

"Thanks." I said.

"Yeah. Looks like we're moving again." She said looking behind me. I turned around.

"They're back already? And...whoa...that's one huge deer." I said staring wide-eyed at the deer Daryl and Rick were hauling.

"Sure is. It was an easy find too." Daryl said setting it down.

"One problem...We still have a half hour of walking to do before we reach the observatory. Can you guys drag that thing all the way there?" I asked.

"We'll be fine." Rick said picking the deer up again. We started to walk back through woods. I noticed Carl sort of slow down a bit and he motioned for me to walk with him behind everyone. I stopped and waited for everyone to pass, then walked beside him.

"What's up?"

"Have you...seen anything lately?" He asked me.

"Nah, I took the pills today...I think...I'm pretty sure the pills burned away with the rest of the building."

"You think anyone else survived?"

"Doubt it. It happened so quick." I said.

"That's what I thought." He said.

"Hey, its gonna be alright. We'll find a way." I said and smiled at him.

"Yeah...yeah I hope so." He said still not convinced. I grabbed his hand and held it. He looked down at our hands and then at me.

"What?" I asked him with a growing smile.

"Nothing." He said then blushed.

"You two al-" Elena started to say as she turned around. But then she saw our hands and raised her eyebrows. We let go quickly and started walking faster. Elena laughed a bit then turned back around.

"Look!" Mika exclaimed and pointed up at the cylinder like building. We were here.

"Come on." I said. Taking the lead in front of everyone and ran towards the door, Rick was following closely behind. I turned around to face him.

"This is where I used to go everyday as a kid...There will only be about 3 walkers to kill." I said. Rick nodded than motioned for me to open the door. I took a deep breath hoping that I was right and swung the unlocked door open. Just as I remembered, 3 walkers came limping over and Rick immediately shot them.

I continued going in with my gun up. I looked around the building and sighed happily remembering the good times I've had here. The ceiling was dome-shaped and closed. The entire building was roundish. I loved this place.

"Wow...this place is cool." Carl said as everyone stared in awe at the ceiling.

"Yup." I said happily ad skipped up the stairs to the top. The enormous telescope was still in place in the middle of the building.

"So where do we sleep?" Mika asked excitedly.

"Well...I think this was a pretty good find. And we could probably sleep anywhere, seeing how big this is." Rick said putting his hands on his hips and checked the place out. I leaned against the railing happily and grinned down at Elena. She smiled and nodded in approval of the place.

"Carol says it's about 9 o'clock. We should all get some sleep so that we can plan how to make a stable living out of this place." Rick announced. In response Sasha yawned and everyone else yawned as well. Yawning really was contagious.

"Alright. I'm out." Elena said then found a spot on the cold, hard ground and curled up into a little ball.

Soon everyone was asleep on the floor. Course, I found out seriously hard to fall asleep on this floor. I groaned and got up off the floor. My back was hurting like hell.

I walked up a bit slowly up the stairs to the top, then I climbed the ladder to the levitated telescope. My foot slipped a bit as I climbed but made it up either way. I stood on top of the ledge holding up the telescope and hung on to it with one arm.

"Crap!" I hissed at myself, I accidentally pressed the button that opens the metal ceiling. I pressed the button vigorously trying to shut it again, but nothing worked. I looked up at the open ceiling and immediately gasped at the sight. The stars were a whole lot brighter and visible during the winter. But along with the view came a huge draft of cold winter air. I knit my eye brows in confusion at the sound of growling coming into my head.

How could walkers possible get in here? The noise was getting louder as I saw my dad once again come towards me. My breathing became heavy, tears streamed down my face.

"My pills...my pills..." I cried quietly to myself as he got closer to me, snapping the air. I shook my head in fear and defeat. Nothing to help me, because I was alone this time. I covered my ears with my hands and was about to scream when a voice stopped me.

"Carmen? Carmen, stop. Your scaring me." The voice coming from behind me said. My breathing stopped all together. Once the voice stopped talking the growling returned and was just about ready to scream again, but I felt the familiar warm sensation fill me as two arms wrapped around me from behind. I snapped back into reality and the horror left. My breathing returned and I grew cold again once the arms let go of me.

I turned around quickly to find our faces only inches apart. I was sure he could hear my heartbeat now. I looked into his eyes, and saw fear and anxiety, but our faces only got closer. Now, our lips were barely touching but he paused and looked straight into my eyes. Before I knew what was going on our lips were pressed together into a slow and gentle kiss. We pulled away and stared at each other.

For some reason I wanted to laugh, but instead of laughing my fingers had entangled themselves in his hair...don't ask me, I've never done this before. And I was pulling his face to mine again. I kissed him, but this time it was a lot more passionate and deep. A lot less gentle. I started to lose my breath and pulled away from him slowly.

"W-what was that?" I asked him unsure.

"I think...I think we just kissed..." He said a little confused himself.

"Huh. Yeah I guess we did."

"Yeah..."

"Lets not do that again. That was...that was _disgusting." _I said. We both laughed quietly and simultaneously wiped our mouths with the back of our hands. I looked up at him still a little confused on what had just happened.

"We should probably go now." He said.

"Uh-yeah. Yeah we should." I responded. We walked silently but quickly down the stairs.

When we got to the bottom step, I stopped as he continued to walk.

"Carl..." I called out quietly.

"Yeah?" He asked turning around again. I grabbed the front of his shirt, pulled him toward me and kissed him...again. When I let go, I felt my cheeks flush. Where had that come from?

"Don't know where that came from. Well uh-night." I said quickly. He smirked a little.

"Um Carmen?"

"Hm?"

"Your still holding my shirt..." He said giving me a lopsided grin. I looked down at my hand that was, in fact, still holding his shirt. I looked back up at him and swallowed nervously.

"Heh, right...sorry." I said letting go.

"I don't mind." He said. This somewhat surprised me. I felt my eyes widen and a blush crept on my cheeks.

"Right...so uh...night." I said and walked away quickly to avoid me doing anything else stupid.

ALRIGHT SO I KNOW THAT I SAID THIS WOULD BE THE LAST CHAPTER, BUT IF ANYONE WANTS A SEQUEL, THEN I WILL ADD ANOTHER ONE FOR THE FINAL. SO IT COULD GO EITHER WAY. EITHER I ADD ONE AND MAKE A SEQUEL OR I JUST LEAVE IT AT THIS. IF ANYONE WANTS A SEQUEL PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME!


	15. Hell finds us everywhere we go

"Carmen...wake up." A familiar voice hissed at me.

"What?" I asked loudly.

"Shh...We have...vistors..." The voice whispered. I sat up a bit shocked.

"Where?" I whispered back.

"Their out back. We need to stay quiet. They're not exactly...friendly. Dad said we should probably hide." He said helping me up. I nodded.

"Where's everyone else?"

"Hiding." He said, "Not worth fighting them. We would lose everything again. Not that we have much...but dad said it would be best."

"We should have locked the doors. This place has no windows, we would have been completely safe. How did your dad found out there were people?"

"He said that he was looking for something to help cook the deer meat, but on his way back he saw them try to get in...then he saw one of them kill one of their own people. He doesn't want to take a risk by talking to them. He had to sneak back in to avoid getting their attention."

"Their obviously going to kill all of us so that they can keep this place. So I'll just really quickly lock the door." I whispered.

"No, Carmen, don't." He said grabbing my arm to stop me.

"Are you kidding me right now? Look, their going to find the door any time now. So the more time we waste arguing the less time we get to lock that door and stop them from killing all of us." I hissed at him. I turned around and walked toward the door, but it swung open. I gasped and jumped back.

"Where is he!?" A man spat in my face. Soon there were two other people walking behind him like they were his henchmen or something.

"W-who?" I stuttered.

"Get outta my way, kid." He said shoving me to the side and walking past me. I wouldn't allow this. I couldn't let everyone die just because I wasn't fast enough.

"No wait! Um-theres no one's here. I swear...just leave. I know a better place..." I said. He turned around slowly and deadly.

"Carmen no-" Carl jumped from his hiding place and yelled but his mouth was covered my a hand and anything else he had said became muffled. He was pulled back down by whoever had covered his mouth.

"Did you..._lie to me." _The big man said through gritted teeth. I took a step back looking between him and his henchmen.

"No...no you have to understand that-" He cut me off my walking up to me and shoving a knife into my stomach. I cried out in pain and bent over. He pulled the knife back out. I gasped for breath and clutched my stomach.

"_No one lies to me, kid_." He said through gritted teeth so that only I heard. I felt the blood in my stomach stream out and stain my shirt. He turned to the rest of the group who had all jumped out of their hiding spots. Rick had a gun aimed at the man's head.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, sheriff." The man said grinning with yellow teeth. He threw a knife at Rick's head but missed. By now everyone had their guns pointed at them. The three people pulled out their own guns.

"Alright, sheriff. Let's see what you've got." He said giving him a sick smile. And in two seconds everyone was shooting at everyone. Our group fought against them, even though we outnumbered them they were still gaining on us. I felt myself grow light headed and fell on the floor. I winced in pain and my breath became shallow.

Somehow Carl had found his way to me through the chaos.

"Hey." I said giving him a weak smile. He shook his head.

"Don't talk it'll only hurt more." He said sitting on his knees next to me, "We're gonna get you out of this. We're gonna make it, ok?" He said looking into my eyes.

"Stop..." I took a sharp painful breath in, "I'm okay. You need to go...all of you do." I said. Zoning out a bit.

"No...no we can get through this. We just need to clean this out and stop the bleeding." He said grabbing my shirt to pull it up to the stomach wound. I put my hand gently on his to stop him from looking. I didn't want to see how bad it was.

"Its gonna be okay. You need to go. Things are gonna get worse. I'm sorry." I said, my eyes starting to close a bit.

"No...I can do this. I really can." He said lifting my shirt. I cringed when I saw his expression. He looked back at me and his eyes started to water.

"Just...go." I whispered.

"I can't."

"You can. You're strong. Remember?" I said weakly smiling at him. He shook his head again.

"Can you breathe?" He asked me. I didn't answer. He sighed at my silence and took his shoe off then his sock. He put his shoe back on and pressed the sock onto my wound to stop the bleeding.

But the amount of pressure he was putting on it hurt like crap. I screamed with pain, I saw Rick shoot me a look of sympathy then turn back to the people. The 3 men were stupid and had run out of ammo. As they searched their pockets buying them time. Rick motioned for the group to follow him and most of them got out the building.

Rick ran over to us. I closed my eyes and pretended to be dead so that Carl would leave to safety.

"No, Dad she's alive! I swear! No..." Carl yelled at his dad while trying to fight back. But Rick had managed to drag him out. They got away. I smiled to myself, thank god. Now I could just...relax.

"Damn it. They got away. Its because of this piece of crap!" the man roared and kicked my stomach. I held the pain in so that they wouldn't shoot me. Once they left, I layed there. I was so glad they left me.

A pool of blood had formed beside my curled up body on the ground. Carl's sock as still on my stoach but I knew the wound was to deep to truly stop it. I closed my eyes again, and thought of last night.

When carl had kissed me...and then I had kissed him back. Twice. I thought of the amazing time I had with these people who had cared so much about. I hoped Elena would be alright, but in the safety of Rick, I knew she would be safe.

He had tried, Rick tried to help and Carl had tried to save. that's all I needed to know. That he cared about me. That they all cared about me. It didn't take a guess for me to know that they did.

And with that final thought, I let myself slowly die on the floor. I let a single tear fall out of my eye as I took my very last breathe.

SORRY THIS WAS SOO SHORT ! BUT THIS IS THE VERY LAST CHAPTER AND I MIGHT MAKE A SEQUEL. I WANTED TO SAY THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR READING, FOLLOWING, OR REVIEWING TO THIS STORY AND HOPE IT CONTINUES IN THE NEXT ONE. I WANT TO THANK FloodFeSTeR AGAIN FOR ALL THE HELP! THANK YOU!


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